


Revelation

by fireroastedjules



Series: The Last Crouch [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Follows HP Books, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 00:20:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 53,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30080565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireroastedjules/pseuds/fireroastedjules
Summary: The third installment of The Last Crouch. Follows Corinna Crouch's sixth year at Hogwarts. The wizarding world now knows that Voldemort is back. Hogwarts takes caution as the war brews outside their protective walls. Inside, however, romance is in the air for many of the students. But can the girl who is used to staying out of the way suddenly be a large part of war?
Relationships: Harry Potter/Original Female Character(s), Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks, Terry Boot/Seamus Finnigan
Series: The Last Crouch [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2003140
Kudos: 3





	1. In Which Corinna Gets Passed Over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Sorry I haven't been keeping up to date with the AO3 posting of this story, so I decided to post the full third part of the story in one go as a bit of an apology. Once I am fully moved into my new place, I should have more time to post this at the same time as FFnet.

In hindsight, Corinna would grow to appreciate the fact that Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted cared so much. At the moment, however, she wanted nothing more than to disappear.

When Dora first apparated them back to the house, Corinna was greeted with hugs and relief. Ever the healers, they looked over her ear and changed the bandages, even if she had changed them after showering the night before. They told her the exact same things that Madam Pomfrey had told her about the injury. She already knew she was going to be in for a rough few weeks, if the demon voice she heard whenever she talked was any indication.

Then they sat her down at the table, and she knew she was in for it.

"While what you did was very noble, it was also very stupid," said Aunt Andromeda. Her back was ramrod straight as she bore her eyes into Corinna. "Running off to the Ministry instead of allowing Professor Snape to alert the Order to handle things."

"We did tell him," Corinna defended weakly. "We just didn't realize that he understood Harry's coded message since we couldn't blatantly say anything with Umbridge around."

"Then why didn't you go to him once you got away from Umbridge?" asked Dora. At least none of them seemed to have a problem with Umbridge's demise. And Corinna did gloss over the fact that she spit in her face, a memory that would help her create a corporeal Patronus every time.

"I mean, we were already in the Forbidden Forest, and the thestrals were coming out of the woodwork. We just went for it. We were just focused on saving Sirius."

The questions kept coming on what they could have or should have done differently when it came to the events of the faithful night.

"I think what you need to remember is that you are still a teenager," said Uncle Ted, looking the most disappointed in Corinna at that moment. It was worse than Aunt Andromeda's anger. "It's not your responsibility to save the day."

"What I did as a teenager does pale in comparison to this," said Dora with a playful smile. She nudged Corinna's shoulder, who was oddly stiff after the dressing down. "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself about this. That's what the adults are for. It takes something special to do what you lot did."

She was still grounded, not that it meant much. She wasn't allowed to leave the house unless accompanied by Aunt Andromeda, Uncle Ted, or Dora. Which would have been the rule anyway considering You-Know-Who was Public Enemy Number One again. It was a fact they all had known and believed for a year now, but it seemed now that the Ministry has acknowledged his return and there is no need for him to hide. Reading the Daily Prophet became less about finding out what was going on in the world and instead turned into checking if someone you knew was killed or went missing.

One article she was surprised to read was speculation as to why the numerous Death Eaters that were caught (which, sadly, didn't include Bellatrix) were trying to steal a prophecy containing information about You-Know-Who and Harry Potter. Of course, it was easy to connect some of the dots. Since Harry was the only one to have ever survived the killing curse and the one who tried to kill him was You-Know-Who. The article went on to suggest that Harry just might be "The Chosen One" who will rid the world of You-Know-Who. Corinna, of course, thought that it was completely absurd. Or, was it, really? Why else would the Death Eaters want that prophecy so badly, the one that Harry and Neville smashed when trying to get away from the Death Eaters in the chamber with the veiled archway. No one knew what the prophecy held so it would all simply be speculation.

Corinna hardly saw Dora at home except when she needed to change or sleep. Between the Aurors office in upheaval from You-Know-Who's official return and doing things for the Order, Dora didn't seem to get much of a chance to breathe. She also started being less and less of her colorful self. The last time Corinna had seen Dora, she had mousy brown hair and looked quite drawn. Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted were also pulling longer shifts at St. Mungo's as more and more people were being attacked. She found herself being alone more times than not, which didn't bother her last summer at the Crouch Manor, but now that she had a family, she very much would like to see them.

A fortnight after coming home from Hogwarts, Corinna received a school owl with her O.W.L.s results. She knew they would be coming sometime in July, but she wasn't fully prepared when it did arrive. Only Uncle Ted was home at the time, just coming back from a double. It seemed like all he wanted to do was go to bed, he sat at the table with Corinna as she opened the envelope.

After going through what the pass and fail grades meant, she stared at her results:

Ancient Runes: P

Astronomy: A

Care of Magical Creatures: A

Charms: O

Defense Against the Dark Arts: O

Herbology: E

History of Magic: P

Potions: O

Transfiguration: E

"Two O's, that's incredible," said Uncle Ted, beaming with pride. Corinna still couldn't believe she had gotten an Outstanding in Defense. Harry was an amazing teacher after all, even if she did keep getting distracted by him. "Did you get the grades you wanted?"

Corinna could almost see her grandfather focusing more on the P's she received than on the O's, particularly the P in Ancient Runes. She had partially taken that class to appease him about his love of languages. She was glad she no longer would have to take it, even if she did have to admit that it had its enjoyable moments.

"Yeah," she said as she looked it over again. "Yeah, it means I get to continue with the classes I need to…"

"To, what, Corinna?"

She looked up at Uncle Ted. He still had an easy smile on his face, but his brows furrowed in confusion.

"I can continue the classes I need to become a healer."

Uncle Ted seemed to be taken aback a moment before his smile widened. "That's great, Corinna! I didn't know you were interested in becoming a healer."

"After reading through the leaflets, it's what I was drawn to most," said Corinna, deciding to keep the real reason why she wanted to become a healer to herself. "I hope that's alright."

"Of course, it's alright," said Uncle Ted as he slung his arm over Corinna's shoulder and pulled her into a side hug. "No matter what you decided to do, we would be proud. But I will admit, hearing that you want to be a healer fills me with a little more pride. Although, you just might change your mind seeing the hours 'Dromeda and I have to pull."

"Doubtful," said Corinna with a smile on her face. She turned and wrapped her arms around Uncle Ted in a compete hug. "Thank you, Uncle Ted."

The weeks after that seemed to blur together. Just a few days before August, Aunt Andromeda was looking over her ear and, after reassuring her that Corinna didn't hear any more ringing or demon voices, or have any sudden bouts of vertigo, she announced that the rupture had healed itself and Corinna should be able to hear as normal once all the pus clears up. That came as a relief as she was tired of waking up with the fowl-smelling liquid pooling on her pillow or being immobilized when the ringing and pain became too much.

Her Hogwarts letter and booklist arrived one the first of August. She was quite amazed at how little she had to buy compared to previous years as she could mark a few off her list as she did not plan on taking very many classes. She thought five classes were too few, but Dora reassured her, on one of the rare nights she was home for dinner, that those five classes alone will be hell for the next two years, especially if she needed to get all E's on her N.E.W.T.s in order to even be considered for the Healer Academy.

"I just wonder who they got to be the new Defense teacher," said Corinna as she poked at her goulash. She had to admit that hers was not as good as Aunt Andromeda's, but everyone reassured her that it was fine.

"I guess you will find out at the Welcome Feast," Dora teased lightly, but her eyes didn't have the normal glint it normally does. "Listen, Molly is going to be taking her lot along with Harry and Hermione to Diagon Alley on Saturday to get their supplies. She's hoping Arthur will have the time off, but I volunteered to go either way. You should go with us, as long as it's okay with Mum and Dad."

Corinna took a moment to remember who Dora was referring to. Arthur and Molly were Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. "Well, she needs her books," said Aunt Andromeda. "I suppose it's alright."

After dinner was cleaned up, Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted retired to the living room to listen to the wireless and read as they tend to do when they both have evenings off. Corinna and Dora sat at the table with a game of Exploding Snap between them. Zelda was fast asleep on the chair next to Corinna, where she would pet her in between hands. "So," said Corinna as she debated her next move, "why the hair? You normally have fun colors."

"I'm just finding it hard to change my appearance," said Dora as she didn't look up at Corinna. "Probably with what's been going on lately."

"You were able to change last year, and the only thing that's different is that everyone knows he's back," said Corinna, assuming that Dora was talking about how their world seemed to change overnight. So, she over-simplified things. There is a reason why she reads the Prophet religiously every morning while she drank her tea.

"It's not that…"

"Then what is it?" When Dora was silent, Corinna decided to keep prodding. "You know how stubborn I can be. I can keep asking you all night and never tire."

Dora looked up at Corinna and honestly looked very sad. "It's Remus."

It took her a moment to remember that Remus was the first name of her third year Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. "What about him?" she said, finally making her move.

Dora didn't move as she stared at the cards laid out in front of them. "He keeps making excuses as to why we can't be together."

"Oh." Corinna stared up at her cousin. Of all the things to come out of her mouth, Corinna did not expect that one. "Does he also like you?"

"I think so," she said, resting her head in her hand with her elbow braced against the table. "It seemed like he was always flirting with me whenever we were together, and we like to be with each other after Order meetings. We don't even talk about the meetings themselves, we just talk. But, when I finally admitted to him that I have feelings and I thought he did to, he just came up with all these excuses. Age difference. His lycanthrope. Our demanding jobs. The war. Blah, blah, blah. What's worse is the latest excuse he gave." Dora gave a short, humorless laugh. "He said that he's not the type of man that you bring home to your parents. As if my parents wouldn't like him, or if they even need to approve my choice of partner."

Corinna tried to imagine what Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted would think of Lupin. He was an amazing professor. Corinna's favorite in fact, not that there was much competition for such a title. Quirrell in the first year turned out to be housing You-Know-Who, Lockhart in the second was not that good of a teacher and turned out to be a fraud, and Moody in the fourth was…well, secretly her brother/father and she didn't even like him before she found that out.

But as for Lupin, she didn't know much about him outside of the classroom besides the fact that he was a werewolf, and why should something he has no control over be used against him?

"Just talk to him," Corinna suggested. "You can also be stubborn. I'm sure you can wear him down."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"What about your love life? I talked about mine, now you owe me the pleasure."

Corinna's heart tightened as she thought about it. "Oh, erm, there's nothing going on."

"What about that boy you keep sending letters to?"

"Terry?" said Corinna, and she could help but laugh. "He's gay. He's just my best mate. Although, we did try dating in our fourth year. It was super awkward."

"Tends to happen when you date someone who's in the closet," said Dora, seeming more like her old self. "So, if it isn't Terry, is there anyone you're interested in?"

Corinna hesitated a moment as she looked Dora over. She talked about her problems with Lupin. She glanced over at the living room. Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted were absorbed in their separate readings, but Aunt Andromeda was leaning against Uncle Ted and he had an arm around her. It must have been difficult to turn a page, but they looked content.

With a steadying sigh, she whispered, "Harry Potter."

Dora choked on her laugh as she eyed Corinna suspiciously. "You're joking." When Corinna turned beet red, Dora sobered slightly. "Do you think he has feelings for you?"

"Doubtful. He had a crush on Cho Chang last year. I'm, like, the exact opposite of her. She's smart, pretty, likes Quidditch and is decent at it."

"Don't sell yourself short since you are all of those things," said Dora. "Well, except for not liking Quidditch, but that is a character flaw we have all elected to ignore. But you won't know until you put yourself out there. Why not try talking to him when we go to Diagon Alley? I'm sure I can find a way to get Ron and Hermione away from him."

Corinna had no intentions of talking to Harry about anything remotely to do with feelings, but she still found herself waking much earlier than usual on Saturday. She tried to do something with her hair, but it just remained limp and she just ended up putting it in a plait. She honestly couldn't believe how long it was getting. The plait ended at her waist. She put on some simple makeup that she somehow managed to collect, but it made her feel silly by putting it on. Her suspicions were confirmed when she finally went down to the kitchen to drink some tea and Uncle Ted asked why she was all gussied up. Dora told him to shut up and that's how girls were.

"We'll be meeting them at the Leaky Cauldron," Dora explained when they walked off the property to Apparate. She had set up an anti-Apparating charm as a precaution. They had also taken themselves off the general floo network, so the only place they can get to would be St. Mungo's in an emergency. "Along with some additional security."

Corinna did not expect the additional security to be Hagrid. They found a seat in the Leaky Cauldron to await the Weasleys who were coming in by car, which was empty except for Tom, the landlord. Hagrid and Dora reminisced about Hogwarts during her time. Corinna only half-paid attention, keeping glancing at the door.

"They're here," said Dora when the Ministry car pulled up. Hagrid was the first one out the door to greet Harry as soon as he got out of the car. He seemed to have grown since the end of last year, and he had a faint stubble on his face. He seemed to be in better spirits than when they had left things. Before she could say anything, Mrs. Weasley handed her a pouch full of galleons. Dora did warn her that Bill Weasley would get money from her father's vault since it could take a long time for most people to get access to their Gringott's vaults thanks to the added security.

They made their way into Diagon Alley. Gone were the days of bright colors and large crowds, replaced with warning posters on how to protect yourself and wanted posters for known Death Eaters. Corinna pointedly looked away from Bellatrix's poster. The image of her throwing a killing curse at her and torturing her classmate still haunted her nightmares.

As much as Mrs. Weasley did not want to do it, they split up since not all of them needed to go into Madam Malkin's. She found herself in the group going to Flourish and Blotts to get books for everyone, while Dora went with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid to get robes. It was the fewest amount of books that Corinna had to get, but she still had to get more than Harry and Ron who were taking fewer classes, but still less than Hermione who was sticking with more of her classes. She still felt bad for Ginny, who needed the most and was going into her O.W.L.s year. Corinna was convinced that all the gold in Gringotts wouldn't be enough to convince her to take that year all over again.

After replenishing their potion ingredients at the Apothecary and a quick stop at Eeylop's, they decided that it would be alright for a quick stop at Fred and George's storefront for Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. This was the only place that was genuinely packed with people, much like the old Diagon Alley. No one could even get close to the shelves as they explored around. Fred and George, of course, whisked Harry away to give him a personal tour for whatever reason. Corinna, Ginny, and Hermione were immediately wandered over to where they had Patented Daydream Charms and Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, but Fred had dragged them over to the Wonder Witch products after he was done with Harry. They had love potions that were supposed to work for up to twenty-four hours, Pygmy Puffs, and ten-second pimple vanisher, which Corinna gladly picked up a few. She also liked the look of the Pygmy Puffs, but she could see Zelda try to eat it.

After a while, Dora pulled her aside. "Have you seen Harry, Ron, and Hermione?" she asked in a harsh whisper to be heard over the crowd.

She shook her head. "I was with Hermione, but I didn't realize she had gone."

"Well, Mrs. Weasley is panicking," said Dora. "And you know how that lot can be."

"I've dealt with it firsthand," said Corinna. She agreed to split up, looking in the back room with some of the more serious products such as shield hats and other accessories. She went back into the main room and saw them walking into the shop with Harry shoving his cloak into his bag. She did not say anything as they came up with excuses as to how they couldn't have looked properly.

Their trip to Diagon Alley did not last much longer. Mrs. Weasley rushed the others along and Corinna paid for her products. She decided not to get a love potion, as that was not how she wanted to get Harry.

The rest of the summer holidays went by in a blur. Corinna almost couldn't believe that it was the last day of August until Aunt Andromeda asked if she was all packed for tomorrow. It was much different than how it used to be when she would count down the days until she went to Hogwarts.

She spent the afternoon making sure she had everything. She couldn't believe how lived in the guest bedroom had become. Uncle Ted had taken the tchotchkes off the shelf and put them in the attic. "Where they belong," he muttered as he haphazardly shoved them in a box. In its place, she put her various novels and old textbooks she wanted to hold onto. Uncle Ted had also found his and Aunt Andromeda's old textbooks in the attic from their time at the Healer Academy. They were slightly outdated, but it was interesting to read and helped Corinna prepare more for what to expect with this career path.

As she shoved her trunk full of the things she would need for the coming term, she was surprised how there wasn't much room. It seemed that she replaced the real estate that her textbooks had taken up and replaced them with the various skin, hair, and makeup products that Aunt Andromeda and Dora had either bequeathed or bought her. She used to laugh at the girls who cared so much about their appearance and she hadn't even realized she had become one of those girls.

The next morning, she had expected Dora to be in the kitchen, but it was Uncle Ted. Apparently, Dora was on an assignment, unspecified as to whom gave the order, and couldn't take her to King's Cross like she had every other time. So, Uncle Ted asked for the morning off so he could take her to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. After she managed to get Zelda into her carrier, Uncle Ted took her trunk and they went out to the apparition point. "I haven't done this in a while," he admitted as Corinna gripped his arm tightly. "I apologize in advance if I splinch anything."

"What?" Corinna demanded as the familiar feeling of being squeezed through a tube. Before she knew it, they were in the alley by the station. She looked herself over, but she seemed to still have everything intact.

They made their way through the station and to the familiar brick wall that divided Platforms Nine and Ten. Once it was safe, they went through the wall. While normally a jovial affair, it was much more muted as parents rushed their kids onto the train and they would quickly leave themselves.

"Have a good term," said Uncle Ted as they walked over to the nearest entrance. He gave Corinna a quick hug. "Write often. Stay out of trouble. Uh…what else should I tell you?"

"Study hard?"

"That's implied." He thought a moment. "No dating until you're thirty?"

"I'll see you for Christmas, Uncle Ted," said Corinna, rolling her eyes. She took her trunk and made her way onto the train.

Of all the things she expected to happen, being gawked at was not one of them. As she went down the corridor to find an empty compartment, people turned to stare at her and openly whisper. She got used to it at the end of last year, but she didn't expect it to continue into the following school year. They hadn't even looked over at Corinna at the beginning of her fifth year since they had an entire summer to get over what happened to her grandfather and father.

It was a relief when she found Harry, Neville, and Luna in the corridor. After a quick exchange of pleasantries, they found a compartment to themselves. Neville talked about his new wand, which was one of the last that Ollivander sold before disappearing. He then dove under the seats to grab Trevor, who had escaped from his grasp as the toad liked to do. Luna turned to her copy of the Quibbler with the odd pair of spectrespecs included for the issue. Corinna was about to ask Harry how the rest of his summer was when a fourth-year girl stepped into the threshold of the compartment. "Hi, Harry. I'm Romilda Vane. Why don't you join us in our compartment? You don't have to sit with them."

Corinna was about to call this Romilda Vane character out on her audacity when Harry said coldly, "They're friends of mine." She couldn't help but smirk when Vane slowly retreated, closing the door on her way.

"People expect you to have cooler friends than us," said Luna.

"You are cool, said Harry. "None of them was at the Ministry. They didn't fight with me."

"That's a very nice thing to say."

"We didn't face him, though," said Neville as he climbed from underneath the bench with Trevor clamped in his hands. "You did. You should hear my gran talk about you!"

The subject was quickly changed to O.W.L.s. They exchanged their grades, and there was some debate on which ones they will be able to continue. Neville was going on about how he was worried about his Transfiguration scores when she looked over at Harry, who was giving an odd look.

"You okay, Harry?"

He jumped up as if she had slapped him. "Er, sorry."

"Wrackspurt got you?" asked Luna. At Harry's question, she elaborated. "A wrackspurt. They're invisible. They float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy. I thought I felt one zooming around in here."

The three of them gave Luna a questioning look as she started looking around wildly and they switched the conversation to quidditch. Corinna was not able to contribute much to the conversation, so it almost came as a relief when Ron and Hermione showed back up after their prefect meeting.

"Malfoy's not doing prefect duty," said Ron after exchanging pleasantries. "He's just sitting in his compartment with the other Slytherins. We saw him when we passed."

Harry seemed to sit up straighter at that news. "What did he do when he saw you?"

"The usual," said Ron, demonstrating with a crude hand gesture. "Not like him, though. He's usually spending his time bullying first years."

"Maybe he preferred the Inquisitorial Squad," Hermione suggested. "Maybe being a prefect seems a bit tame after that."

"I agree with that one," said Corinna. "I am going to miss taking points away from Slytherin, although I am not going to miss kissing Umbridge's arse."

"I don't think so," said Harry. "I think he's—"

Before he could share his theory, a scared-looking third year opened the compartment door carrying two scrolls. "I am supposed to give these to Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom." He handed over the scrolls and then scurried away before they could say anything.

"What are they?" asked Ron.

"Invitations," said Harry, "to Slughorn's compartment."

"Who's Slughorn?" asked Corinna.

"New teacher," said Harry.

"But what does he want me for?" asked Neville, looking nervous.

"No idea," said Harry. He and Neville left the compartment, but Corinna noted how he was pulling out his invisibility cloak as he did so.

The lunch trolley came and they loaded up with sweets. She just nibbled on a cauldron cake while she read her book, curling up in her seat. It wasn't until the sun started to set and the others changed into their Hogwarts robes when Neville came back from whatever it was that Slughorn wanted from them. He was about to launch into whatever Slughorn made him suffer through, but the others didn't really care about that. "Where's Harry?" asked Corinna.

"Dunno," Neville admitted as he went to grab his robes from his trunk. "He just said he'd see us later."

Ron and Hermione exchanged a look that the others were not privy to. Corinna tried not to let it bother her, but she couldn't help but scoff. But she worried more and more as the sun steadily disappeared beyond the horizon, plunging the world into darkness. No matter what Harry needed to do, he would be back by now.

"Should we grab his things?" asked Hermione as the train started to slow into the station.

"Maybe," said Ron, looking as nervous as Corinna felt.

They waited a few minutes for the crowds to thin more, just in case Harry came back. When it was obvious that he might have already left the train, Ron grabbed his trunk and Hermione grabbed Hedwig's cage. They walked out and Corinna took up the rear. She took the corner too sharply with her trunk. Zelda's carrier landed with a loud thunk and burst open. "Zelda!" she shrieked when the tabby cat shot out of the carrier like a blast, running down the corridor. "You stupid cat!" She abandoned her trunk and ran down the corridor, dodging around students as the last of them exited the train.

She managed to corner Zelda in one of the compartments close to the front of the train. Zelda howled and tried to escape from Corinna's arms, causing scratches on her hands and arms. "I'm sorry for dropping your carrier, but would you stop trying to escape!"

"Wotcher, Corinna!"

"Dora?" Corinna hadn't expected to see her cousin. By then, they seemed to be the only ones on the train. "Is this why you couldn't take me to the platform?"

"Yep," she said as she kept poking her head into the nearby compartments. "I'm stationed in Hogsmeade for extra security. I was assigned to monitor the platform to make sure the students got into the carriages safely. You haven't seen Harry, have you?" She gave a humorless chuckle as worry still ebbed at her features. "I figured when no one had seen either of you get off that you two were—"

"Shut up!" said Corinna, regretting how she admitted her feelings about Harry to Dora. "No, I haven't seen him since he went to Slughorn's compartment for lunch."

Dora immediately sobered and kept her wand trained around the corridor. "Have you noticed anything off about the journey?"

"Other than Malfoy not bullying first years and a fourth year trying to cozy up to Harry, no," said Corinna. She shoved Zelda back into her carrier, but abandoned her and the trunk to follow after Dora. "Do you think he…?"

"Let's not think about that until we have to," said Dora just as the train lurched. "Get your things and get off the train. I just have one more car to check."

Corinna decided to obey this time. She ran back and grabbed her trunk and Zelda. She had managed to jump off just as the train started to move. No one else was on the platform as she waited with bated breath for Dora and Harry to appear. She released her breath when she saw them jump off the train just as it was really started to gain momentum. She rushed over to them.

"What happened?" Corinna asked, staring at Harry covered in blood as it flowed heavily from his nostrils. "Hold still," she said, not waiting for his response. "Episkey."

"Draco Malfoy," Harry hissed as his nose shifted back together. While Corinna had fixed Harry's nose, Dora summoned a silver, four-legged creature to send a message to the castle that they were safe and making their way there. "Was that a Patronus?"

"Just sending word so they won't worry," said Dora. The 'about you' was implied as Harry's safety was their biggest priority as he was You-Know-Who's biggest target. "Let's go. We shouldn't dawdle any longer."

They trudged up the lane, following the marks left by the carriages. "How did you find me?"

"I noticed you hadn't left the train and I knew you had that cloak. I thought you might be hiding for some reason. When I saw the blinds were drawn down on that compartment, I thought I'd check."

"But, what are you doing here, anyway?" asked Harry.

"I'm stationed in Hogsmeade now, to give the school extra protection."

"Is it just you who's stationed up here?" asked Harry.

"No. Proudfoot, Savage, and Dawlish are here, too."

Corinna fell silent. Dora seemed more drawn now, almost older. She wished she would tease Corinna about Harry some more. Maybe she had tried to talk to Lupin without success. Even Harry seemed withdrawn and kept glancing over at Dora and Corinna. She met his eye once and quickly looked away.

Since they had always traveled using the carriages, Corinna couldn't believe how long the lane was from Hogsmeade Station all the way to Hogwarts. It was a relief when the large gates came into view, but they were stubbornly locked. No charm and no attempt at a muggle break-in were going to be effective. Dora pointed down the path as someone approached from the school, and Corinna's heart sank when she saw who it was. Harry swore under his breath as Snape unlocked the padlock with his wand.

"Nice of you to turn up, Potter, although you have evidently decided that the wearing of school robes would detract from your appearance." He went to defend himself, but Snape talked over him. "There is no need to wait, Nymphadora. Potter and Crouch are quite safe in my hands."

"I meant for Hagrid to get the message," said Dora, frowning. Corinna expected a little more for her, as she hated her given name. Instead, she ushered Harry and Corinna through the gates.

"Hagrid was late for the start-of-term feast, just like Potter and Crouch here, so I took it instead. And incidentally, I was interested to see your new Patronus." He slammed the gate shut and tapped the padlock to lock it again. "I think you were better off with the old one. The new one looks weak."

Snape swung around and Corinna briefly saw the shock and anger on her face. They quickly bade her goodnight as it seemed that Snape wasn't keen on dawdling after insulting her like that. Anger coursed through Corinna as she trudged after Snape. She was usually indifferent about the Potions teacher. He would nitpick her work more than those of his house, sure, but she still did well enough in his classes and she enjoyed the subject matter. She could never, however, forgive him for how he always treated Harry and Neville and a lot of those from her house. And she especially couldn't forgive him for such a snide remark about Dora. All she did was make sure her and Harry made it to Hogwarts safe and sound.

"Fifty points each from Gryffindor for lateness, I think," said Snape. "And, let me see, another twenty for your Muggle attire, Potter. You know, I don't believe any House has ever been in negative figures this early in the term. We haven't even started pudding. You might have set a record, Potter."

Corinna's jaw clenched at the injustice of it all. They were in this situation because of someone from his own house, not that he would even care if they had pointed that out. Malfoy, like every other Slytherins, was under his cloak of protection that no other House got since their heads were fair. She was annoyed with herself when she felt the burn of tears in her eyes.

It wasn't soon enough that they climbed up the stairs to the entrance while Snape kept going on about how Harry was a show-off. He probably forgot that Corinna was even there after giving her fifty points from Gryffindor. "No cloak," said Snape as they stood by the doors to the Great Hall. Corinna had dropped her trunk and carrier off with the others that would be magicked to the Gryffindor dormitories. "No cloak. You can walk in so that everyone sees you, which is what you wanted, I'm sure."

Harry might have walked in with his head held high to defy Snape, but Corinna definitely had her head tucked down and refused to look up at the hall. She followed after Harry who made his way to the Gryffindor table, which was the furthest from the entrance, of course. She sat down next to Harry, who found spots by Ron and Hermione. They were, of course, fretting over him and the fact that he was covered in blood. They pressured him to talk about what happened, but he didn't want to say anything around the prying eyes and ears of their fellow classmates.

Corinna's stomach jolted when she realized that she had missed the proper feast and was only left with sweets laid out on shiny platters. She chose a pumpkin pasty and picked at it.

Once the Great Hall reached the pitch of a dull roar, Dumbledore stood up to make his speech. The first thing she noticed was his hand. It looked like it was in a fight with some fire and lost. It seemed to be the focus on many people's low conversations as he plowed through the usual about quidditch tryouts and what Filch has banned this year (which was all Weasley Wizarding Wheezes products—too bad he never learned that banning things is what makes them popular).

"We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year. Professor Slughorn is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post of potions master." Despite the fact that many people broke out about the unexpected turn of events, Dumbledore continued. "Professor Snape, meanwhile, will be taking the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Discussion immediately broke out among the students. Corinna vaguely heard what Harry, Ron, and Hermione talked about as others also broke into their own discussions. Dumbledore let the discussions die down before he turned his talk to the more serious topic of You-Know-Who.

"I cannot emphasize strongly enough how dangerous the present situation is, and how much care each of us at Hogwarts must take to ensure that we remain safe. The castle's magical fortifications have been strengthened over the summer, we are protected in new and more powerful ways, but we must still guard scruptulously against carelessness on the part of any student or member of staff. I urge you, therefor, to abide by any security restrictions that your teachers might impose upon you, however irksome you might find them—in particular, the rule that you are not to be out of after hours. I implore you, should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a member of staff immediately. I trust you to conduct yourselves, always, with the utmost regard for your own and others' safety. But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well-rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say good night. Pip pip!"

Corinna was more than happy to trudge up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower, ignoring the whispers happening around her. "Hey, Corinna!" However, she did not ignore her best friend, Terry, running to catch up to her.

"Terry, hey," said Corinna, looking relieved as they continued up the stairs, but at a much slower pace now. "How's it going?"

"I should be asking you that," he said with a smirk. "Showing up late to the Welcome Feast with Potter. What were you two doing?"

"Walking from Hogsmeade Station with my cousin," she said, which seemed to make his smile fall. "What did you think we were doing?"

Terry cleared his throat. "Well, you know…" He nudged Corinna's shoulder.

"Malfoy used the body-bind curse on Harry and broke his nose," said Corinna. "He would have been sent back to London if it wasn't for Dora being stationed in Hogsmeade and looking out for him."

"Then why were you late?"

"I had to chase down Zelda. She escaped from her carrier." She pulled up the sleeves of her robes to show Terry the numerous scratches. She would heal them up once she got to her dormitory.

"Ouch," Terry winced.

"Nothing some magic can't fix." Corinna rolled the sleeves back down and let her arms fall to her side. "What about you? How was your summer? I didn't hear much from you."

"That's because my parents were a little paranoid," Terry admitted, looking suddenly ashamed. "They didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts this year."

"What?"

"Yeah, I know," said Terry with a sigh. "But, you know, they're both Muggle-born, and they went to Hogwarts during the first go."

"Then they should know that this is going to be the safest place for you," said Corinna easily. "Dumbledore is the only one You-Know-Who has ever feared. Plus, my cousin and other Aurors are stationed in Hogsmeade for extra protection."

Terry didn't say anything as the took the long away up to the seventh floor where their respective common rooms were located. "You don't get it, Corinna," he said. "You're pureblood. They aren't going to go after you like they will me."

"I'm basically a blood traitor at this point," said Corinna coolly. "And I don't appreciate you using my status like that. I have never said one ill thing about you or your family and I don't give a damn how pure my blood supposedly is."

"It doesn't matter what you think," said Terry. "It's how they think."

A lump formed in her throat and anger burned tears into her eyes. It was becoming harder and harder to heed Aunt Andromeda's advice. It was one thing when it was Neville. They may now be friends, but her and Terry were best friends. Although she might not have done so in the beginning, she now tells him everything.

"I'm going to bed," said Terry, not looking at Corinna. "I did not mean to start something like this now. I just…" He released a tense breath. "It was just so much easier last year when everything thought Harry was nuts about something like this. Now that it is reality…"

"It's always been reality," said Corinna softly. "Just now people can't ignore it." She shook her head as she broke away from Terry and headed into Gryffindor Tower with the password she overheard from a couple of fourth years.


	2. In Which Terry Becomes a Gryffindor

It took longer than usual to get their schedules in order. Corinna had to wait for a few others to get their schedules sorted as they had to confirm what classes they were taking and that they had the necessary O.W.L.s to take them. "Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts are excellent, Miss Crouch," she said, "and I am relieved to see that you were able to study enough to get into Transfigurations, Herbology, and Charms. Here is your schedule."

To Corinna, it looked very light, but she was used to taking nine classes. With it nearly cut in half, it looked as if she had all the free time in the world. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case as she knew just how difficult their sixth and seventh years would be.

She trudged back up to the Gryffindor common room, which was filled with sixth and seventh years who had a free period. Harry and Ron were among them, but they were talking with Katy Bell about Quidditch. She tucked herself into an armchair in the corner, debating whether she should send a Patronus to Dora asking her if she was alright after Snape's infuriating comments last night, but she had only just produced a corporeal Patronus last year, and not even under the threat of any dementors. She wouldn't even know where to begin with sending one as a messenger.

She walked with the other sixth years down to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, where some of the students were already queued. Looking at the large amount of books she was carrying and all the homework she needed to do, Corinna was glad to have skipped out on Ancient Runes, something she doubt she would have taken even if she had gotten the necessary O.W.L. for it.

There was a lot of chatter among the group until Snape appeared to let them into the classroom. Everyone was silent as they filed inside and started taking out their books. When he instructed otherwise, he launch into a tirade about their lack of consistency (nothing new) and how he was surprised so many people qualified for N.E.W.T.s (all thanks to Harry). He then went on about nonverbal magic and how it can give the user a split-second advantage over their opponent.

Then, without much more explaining, they were sent into pairs to practice.

Corinna ended up with Parvati. She would normally end up with Neville, but it seemed that Hermione and Neville were partnered up and Terry stuck with one of his Ravenclaw friends. Since they were both in Harry's D.A. lessons last year, they were good at the shield charms and jinxes they were supposed to be thinking instead of saying. However, it turned out to be much, much harder to use nonverbal spells. Corinna and Parvati just ended up staring at each other for a few minutes, and Corinna couldn't help but wonder if Parvati was even trying, because Corinna certainly gave up.

Snape, however, called for the students' attention for a demonstration after the fact. He had chosen Harry, of course, since he was his favorite punching bag. Things went downhill fast when Harry yelled, "Protego!" instead of using nonverbal magic.

"Do you remember me telling you we are practicing nonverbal spells?"

"Yes."

"Yes, sir."

"There's no need to call me 'sir,' Professor."

Corinna choked back a snort while Parvati drew her hand to her mouth in surprise. Snape, of course, would not tolerate such behavior and awarded Harry detention on Saturday night. It made her proud as she couldn't help but think that was something she wished she would have said to Umbridge last year.

After lunch, break, and free periods, Corinna queued up in the dungeons for their first potions lesson with Slughorn. This was the subject that Corinna was most excited for. She was really hoping that Slughorn didn't play favorites like Snape had with his Slytherins so that maybe, just maybe, her work might get more recognition.

It seemed that not many students managed to get the necessary O.W.L. to continue on with potions, but Corinna was relieved to see Terry among them. He spotted Corinna and seemed to debate within himself what he should do, but he never got the chance to act as Slughorn opened the door and ushered everyone inside, especially giving Harry and Zabini, a Slytherin boy who was on the Inquisitorial Squad last year with Corinna, an enthusiastic welcome. They gathered into the classroom, almost perfectly splitting up by house as the Slytherins and Ravenclaws took their own tables. The four Gryffindors allowed the lone Hufflepuff, Ernie Macmillan, to join them, so it meant that their table would be quite crowded.

"Oh, I thought you would want to join Terry," said Ernie, looking at Corinna in confusion. "Aren't you two dating?"

Corinna wasn't sure if it was all the vapors coming from the various cauldrons—particularly one that smelled of old books, a summer breeze, and something sweet that was oddly familiar to her—or the fact that people still somehow haven't heard that Terry was gay, but she couldn't help but laugh.

"We broke up in the beginning of fifth year," said Corinna, sniffling softly. "We're just friends."

She did not look over at Harry when she said that. She didn't want to know his reaction, if he even had one.

Before Ernie could say anything else, Slughorn called for their attention and took them to prepare their scales, potion kits, and copies of Advanced Potion-Making. Harry interrupted as he and Ron did not have anything as they did not know they would qualify for the N.E.W.T. Slughorn showed them over to the cupboard where there were a couple of battered copies and some rusty scales they could borrow until they could get their own by owl-order. Once that was settled, Slughorn went about asking what various potions were, all of which Hermione knew right away. Slughorn was more than impressed, and it seemed that he had already expected to look out for Hermione. Harry must have said something to Slughorn during their luncheon on the train.

"And now," said Slughorn, "it is time to work."

"Sir, you haven't told us what's in this one," said Ernie, pointing at the small cauldron on Slughorn's desk. It was full of what looked like molten gold. Even Corinna knew what that one was, but Slughorn simply called on Hermione without asking for anyone else to get a chance to answer.

"It's liquid luck. It makes you lucky!"

"Quite right," said Slughorn, "take another ten points for Gryffindor. Yes, it's a funny little potion, Felix Felicis. Desperately tricky to make, and disastrous to get wrong. However, if brewed correctly, as this has been, you will find that all your endeavors tend to succeed. At least, until the effects wear off."

"Why don't people drink it all the time, sir?" asked Terry.

"Because if taken in excess, it causes giddiness, recklessness, and dangerous overconfidence. Too much of a good thing, you know. Highly toxic in large quantities. But taken sparingly, and very occasionally, can give you a seemingly perfect day. And that is what I shall be offering as a prize in this lesson. One tiny bottle of Felix Felicis." He pulled out a small corked vial full of the golden liquid inside. "Enough for twelve hours' luck. From dawn until dusk, you will be lucky in everything you attempt." Slughorn added one last warning on how Felix Felicis is banned for certain events such as organized competitions, examinations, or elections. "So the is to use it on an ordinary day only. And watch how that ordinary day becomes extraordinary!"

In order to win the Felix Felicis, they would need to brew Draught of Living Death. A complex potion compared to what they have done in previous years, but with something on the line like liquid luck, it would need to be something that was difficult.

Corinna opened her book and turned to the right page. Her heart sank slightly as she looked over the instructions. It was definitely much more complex than what she would have expected for their first day of Potions, but she was not daunted. She was going to win that liquid luck.

Although she started off well enough with her potion starting off as the color of currant and then lilac when she added the cut up bean, chopping it up as small as possible to get the juice she would need. She stirred it counterclockwise, making it turn pink but it never seemed to lighten up as it was supposed to as she stirred. Before she could believe it, Slughorn was calling for time and telling everyone to stop stirring.

Corinna was pleased herself when she looked over at Hermione's and saw that hers was still lilac. Her chest swelled with happiness that she had actually managed to have a better potion than the girl that was best in their year.

Their table was the last to be inspected and Slughorn stood behind Corinna when he announced that there was a clear winner. "Excellent, excellent, Harry!" Corinna's jaw dropped when she heard that. "Good lord, it's clear you've inherited your mother's talent. She was a dab hand at Potions, Lily was! Here you are, then, here you are—one bottle of Felix Felicis, as promised, and use it well!"

Corinna told Terry to meet at their spot in the library after dinner on their way out of the classroom. He didn't acknowledge her, but he showed up at their table, looking surprised. He still sat down across from her as she pulled out the potions homework out of her bag.

"Harry Potter!" said Corinna almost shrilly. "How the hell did he get the liquid luck? He was rubbish at potions, and I refuse to believe that he's suddenly that good at potions as soon as Snape left."

"Yeah, I expected it to be Granger."

"I had a better potion than her!" That earned them a shush from Madame Pince. She breathed out a tense sigh and lowered her voice. "Hers was still lilac. Sure, mine wasn't pale like Harry's was, but it was at least pink!"

Terry wasn't certain if he should laugh or just agree with her. He opted for a completely different route. "So, are we just going to ignore what happened last night?"

"Sorry," said Corinna. "You're the only person I can complain about something like this." She sighed heavily. "And I'm sorry about what I said last night. I didn't mean to belittle your parents' concerns in regards to their blood status."

"And I shouldn't have used yours against you, either," said Terry. "I think we were both a bit tetchy given what's been going on. Just my parents and I had a row about it just before we went to the platform."

"Agree that we both sucked last night and that we should have a do over?"

Terry nodded. "So, does this mean you no longer fancy him?"

"Did you at least tell your parents you're gay?"

Terry made a face. "Touché, Crouch. Touché. But, if you must know, yes, I told them. There were tears, they hugged me, and now they are constantly asking me whenever I mention a bloke if we are dating. It is so annoying, and I wouldn't change it for the world."

"Bet not," Corinna agreed. "Did you know that Ernie Macmillan thought we were still dating?"

Terry snorted. "Doesn't surprise me. Macmillan doesn't really see much past his nose."

Their apologies may not have been perfect, but Corinna learned that she should no longer dwell on such things. Her friendship with Terry was much too important. Especially in the coming weeks when the amount of homework was mounting. Professors were making them study as if they had an exam every other day and it was hard to keep up when in class. Even her two best subjects—Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts—were falling behind with those that she normally had to work harder at.

In fact, it all seemed to blend into one another until Herbology a fortnight later. Terry had just escaped from the Venomous Tentacula they were working with that term when one of the Auror's stationed at Hogsmeade—Savage, maybe?—came rushing in and whispered urgently to Sprout. She immediately paled under her dirt-covered face. She went over to Hannah Abbott, who had been working at the table next to Corinna and Terry. Although Sprout intended for Hannah to be the only one who heard, they heard her whisper that her mother was found dead and immediately rushed her out as the shock settled in. It was the first time they had seen one of them leave class for something like this.

There were whispers of others being pulled, and it happening to others, and not just Hannah. Although he would not admit as much, but Terry had been sending and receiving near-daily letters from his parents to reassure the other that they were still safe. Corinna had only sent and received a few letters from Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted as October reared its ugly head with a sharp chill in the air. However, they knew more about what was going on than most since Dora was not only stationed in Hogsmeade, but she was also part of the Order. They only one they really had to worry about was Uncle Ted, but Aunt Andromeda reassured in her last correspondence that they were trying to make an arrangement with St. Mungo's so they would have the same shifts so they could travel back and forth together.

Corinna was surprised to see the announcement on the common room bulletin board letting third years and up know that there was going to be a Hogsmeade weekend. She was certain that those would be cancelled, but there were plenty of Aurors running around and many of the teachers chaperoned in Hogsmeade weekends past. It was probably just as safe as staying in the castle.

But, as they trudged down the lane after getting poked and prodded by Filch's secrecy sensor, they were probably better off staying in the castle. The bitter wind tore through all the layers of protection that Corinna and Terry wore. Everyone was hunched against the wind as they fought to get to Hogsmeade proper where they would be somewhat protected by the buildings.

"Where to first?" Terry asked as the looked about the lane. It was sad to see Zonko's boarded up. They were a staple and the only reason why the Weasley twins hadn't expanded into Hogsmeade even if they would make a killing. There was always Honeydukes or Madam Puddifoot's. Even the Three Broomsticks didn't seem to hold much appeal.

"Wotcher, Corinna!"

"Dora!" Corinna turned to see her cousin, who was still sporting the same brown hair and looking even more tired than she had a few weeks ago when she rescued Harry off the train. "Dora, this is Terry Boot who I've talked about. Terry, this is my cousin."

"You can call me Tonks," she said as she shook Terry's hand. "Boot, huh? By any chance related to Reece and Jessica Boot?"

"Yeah, they're my parents," he admitted. When Corinna looked confused, he continued. "They work in administration for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Which is probably how Tonks knows them."

"They are constantly complaining about how bad I am at paperwork," said Dora. "I would recommend getting inside somewhere. The wind is brutal. No point in all of us having to stand out in this."

"Do you have to?" asked Corinna.

"Gotta make sure nothing happens to these snot-nosed brats. It was nice to meet you, Terry." Dora waved them off as they continued down the lane. They ducked into the Three Broomsticks and elbowed their way to an empty table off to the side.

"The way you described your cousin," said Terry as he managed to unwind his scarf, "I imagined she would look cooler."

"She's been having a rough time," said Corinna, and she realized she hadn't even thought to ask about Lupin before they were ushered away. "Hasn't been in a colorful mood, if you know what I mean."

Terry battled his way to the bar and came back with a couple of butterbeers. "I tried to order food, but Madame Rosmerta laughed and moved to the next customer." He uncorked his bottle but made no move to drink it. He glanced over at a table tucked into the corner. There was Dean Thomas and Ginny Weasley snogging, but not to far from the table was Seamus Finnegan, scowling and kept giving the couple dirty looks. "Poor bloke," he said.

Corinna didn't have much of an opinion on Seamus, other than she had a hard time understand a word he said at the end of last year because of her ruptured ear drum. But, with the way that Terry kept glancing over at him, she had a feeling she was going to need to have more of an opinion on him.

"So," said Corinna in a slight sing-song tone, "interested in anyone?"

Terry glared at Corinna, and he knew immediately that the jig was up. "Listen, he's in your house. Do you know if he, you know, chases for the same team I do?"

"I don't know," she admitted as she toyed with her glass. "He went stag with Dean during the Yule Ball, and I haven't even heard of him being interested in anyone."

"So, there's a chance that he's into blokes," said Terry, suddenly looking very nervous.

"Just go over there and talk to him," said Corinna. "There's no harm in just talking to him."

"So, when are you going to take your own advice?"

"After you show me how it's done. How about this? You go over there and talk to Seamus, and I'll go talk to Harry." Harry, Ron, and Hermione weren't sitting too far from them. "Deal?"

Terry swallowed thickly but shook Corinna's hand all the same. "I'll show you how it's done," he promised. "And then I will go and distract Granger and Weasley for you. I'll make them start bickering or something." He drained his glass and stood up from the table. "Wish me luck, Crouch!"

"Good luck," said Corinna as Terry marched right over to Seamus. She couldn't hear over the din of the other patrons, but she saw that some of the anger on Seamus's face seemed to dissipate as Terry talked to him. Eventually, he sat down across from him and they were immediately engrossed in conversation.

She didn't know how Terry could just do something like that. He was still nervous, but he had overcame his fear and went for it, and he's in Ravenclaw. Corinna was supposed to be the brave one. Sure, if the sorting went differently, she might have ended up in cunning Slytherin. Would that have made her life any better?

There was a sharp scraping noise of a bench being moved. Corinna looked over to where the offending noise emanated from and saw that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were leaving the pub. She left a note under her half-finished butterbeer bottle telling Terry that she left on her own volition and that they would meet back up at the castle. She shot up from her table and hadn't even put all her warm clothes back on before braving back outside.

She saw the three of them going down the lane back towards Hogwarts. It seemed that others also wanted to take refuge at the castle as there were a couple of other Gryffindors just ahead of them. Corinna immediately followed after them, keeping a few paces between them so she could hear if they even said a word.

Sleet was coming down fast now and Corinna had never been more grateful for the waterproof winter gear that Dora had bought her for Christmas last year. If only she could do something about the slosh whipping at her face. She smeared it away just as she saw one of the Gryffindors ahead of Harry, Ron, and Hermione start to rise up as if greeting the sky like a friend. Her arms were outstretched and her hair was jostling around in the wind. She almost looked peaceful. Until she reached about six feet off the ground and started screaming in agony.

The other Gryffindor girl was tugging on the floating girl's ankles, and the other four jumped in to help. Harry and Ron, being the tallest, managed to get her down and catch her, but she was writhing and screaming, making it hard for them to hold on. They gently laid her down and Harry ran to get help.

Corinna gave her a cursory glance and couldn't see any sort of injury on the girl—who she now identified as Katie Bell. She just seemed to be in immense pain and would not stop shaking.

After what felt like an eternity, Harry came back with Hagrid in tow. The half-giant immediately took charge and picked Katie up to take her up to the castle. Her screams faded into the distance before Hagrid's figure had.

"It's Leanne, isn't it?" asked Hermione tentatively to Katie's friend. She nodded. "Did it just happen all of a sudden, or?"

"It was when the package tore," sobbed Leanne. She pointed to the ground where a brown package laid there with what looked like a gold chain spilling out.

When Ron went to pick it up, Harry hissed for him to not touch it. Since none of them wanted to get to close to it, Corinna brought out her wand. "Wingardium Leviosa," she said, and the necklace rose from the ground. It was an ornate opal necklace.

"I've seen that before," said Harry. "It was on display in Borgin and Burkes ages ago. The label said it was cursed. Katie must have touched it. How did Katie get a hold of this?"

"That's what we were arguing about," said Leanne, shaking uncontrollably. "She came out of the bathroom in the Three Broomsticks holding it. She said it was a surprise for somebody at Hogwarts and she had to deliver it. She looked all funny when she said it. Oh, no! I bet she'd been Imperiused and I didn't realize!" She began to sob hard now as they wracked her body, similar to how Katie had been acting. Hermione gently placed a hand on her back in comfort. After Harry's question about who had given it to her, she shook her head. "No, she wouldn't tell me. And I said she was being stupid and not take it up to school, but she just wouldn't listen. I tried to grab it from her, and…and…" She let out a wail of despair.

"We'd better get up to school," said Hermione. "We'll be able to find out how she is. Come on."

With a slight huff of annoyance, Corinna muttered a "Locomotor necklace," and the five of them made their way up to the castle.

"Malfoy knows about the necklace," said Harry, seemingly out of nowhere, at least to Corinna. Ron and Hermione, on the other hand, just looked annoyed. "It was in a case at Borgin and Burkes four years ago, I saw him having a good look at it while I was hiding from him and his dad. This is what he was buying that day when we followed him! He remembered it and he went back for it!"

"Loads of people go to Borgin and Burkes, and didn't that girl say Katie got it in the girls' bathroom?"

"She said she came back from the bathroom with it, she didn't necessarily get it in the bathroom itself—"

"McGonagall!"

McGonagall was hurrying down the stone steps to meet them. "Hagrid says you five saw what happened to Katie Bell—upstairs to my office at one, please! What's that you are levitating, Crouch?"

"It's the thing she touched, Professor."

"Good lord, said McGonagall as she magicked a handkerchief and used it to take the necklace from Corinna. "No, no, Filch, they're with me!" He was ready with the Secrecy Sensor, and Corinna felt a ghost prod near her—"Take this necklace to Professor Snape at once, but be sure not to touch it, keep it wrapped up."

They all followed McGonagall upstairs and into her office. She closed the door behind them and swept around to face the five of them. Hermione still had her arms around a still-sobbing Leanne.

"Well? What happened?"

Leanne tried to explain what happened, but she could hardly speak around her gasping sobs. She got through some of the story that she explained to the others, but at some point it seemed that her voice gave out. Eventually, McGonagall dismissed her to get a calming draught from Pomfrey. After she left the room, McGonagall turned back to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Corinna. "What happened when Katie touched the necklace?"

"She rose up in the air," said Harry quickly, "and then began to scream, and collapsed. Professor, can I see Professor Dumbledore, please?"

"The headmaster is away until Monday, Potter."

"Away?"

"Yes, Potter, away! But anything you have to say about this horrible business can be said to me, I'm sure!"

Harry seemed to hesitate a moment as he looked between McGonagall and his friends. Corinna wasn't sure about the hesitancy until he finally said, "I think Draco Malfoy gave Katie that necklace, Professor."

It was immediately evident that Ron and Hermione did not agree with such an accusation. Corinna was simply confused.

"That is a very serious accusation, Potter. Do you have any proof?"

"No, but…" Harry went on to explain that him, Ron, and Hermione had followed Malfoy to Borgin and Burkes and a conversation that they overheard between him and Borgin. Corinna realized that this was the reason why they couldn't find them during that moment of panic at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

"Malfoy took something to Borgin and Burkes for repair?"

"No, Professor, he just wanted Borgin to tell him how to mend something, he didn't have it with him. But that's not the point, the thing is that he bought something at the same time, and I think it was that necklace."

"You saw Malfoy leaving the shop with a similar package?"

"No, Professor, he told Borgin to keep it in the shop for him—"

"But, Harry," said Hermione, "Borgin asked him if he wanted to take it with him, and Malfoy said no—"

"Because he didn't want to touch it, obviously!"

"What he actually said was, 'How would I look carrying that down the street?'"

"Well, he would look a bit of a prat carrying a necklace," said Ron.

"Oh, Ron," said Hermione, "it would be all wrapped up, so he wouldn't have to touch it, and quite easy to hide inside a cloak, so nobody would see it! I think whatever he reserved at Borgin and Burkes was noisy or bulky, something he knew would draw attention to him if he carried it down the street. And in any case," she said loudly to prevent Harry from interrupting, "I asked Borgin about the necklace, don't you remember? When I went in to try and find out what Malfoy had asked him to keep, I saw it there. And Borgin just told me the price, he didn't say it was already sold or anything—"

"Well, you were being really obvious, he realized what you were up to within about five seconds, of course he wasn't going to tell you. Anyway, Malfoy could've sent off for it since—"

"That's enough!" said McGonagall, looking furious. "Potter, I appreciate you telling me this, but we cannot point the finger of blame at Mr. Malfoy purely because he visited the shop where his necklace might have been purchased. The same is probably true of hundreds of people. And in any case, we have put stringent security measures in place this year. I do not believe that necklace can possibly have entered this school without our knowledge. And what is more," she added before Harry could interrupt, "Mr. Malfoy was not in Hogsmeade today."

"How do you know, Professor?" asked Harry, gaping at McGonagall.

"Because he was doing detention with me. He has now failed to complete his Transfiguration homework twice in a row. So, thank you for telling me your suspicions, Potter, but I need to go up to the hospital wing now to check on Katie Bell. Good day to you all."

Corinna met Terry at the library that evening. As much as she wanted to know what happened to Terry and Seamus after she left the Three Broomsticks, word had gotten around what happened to Katie Bell and that she was one of the witnesses. She explained to him what they found out, but she decided to omit what Harry said about Malfoy. She didn't know yet how to interpret that one.

"All the exciting things happen to you when I'm not around," said Terry as he took in the information. "You have no idea who gave it to her?"

"Nope," said Corinna. "Her friend, Leanne, didn't even know. She went into the bathroom without the necklace and then came back out of it with it. Whatever it is has some really dark magic. It was…it was scary, actually." At the moment, they had just focused on getting Katie help and then explaining what happened.

"I just hope that Madam Pomfrey can help her," said Terry softly. "And Katie's young and healthy. She should be able to bounce back once they figure out what that necklace was cursed with."

"I hope so," Corinna agreed with a sigh. She looked up at Terry who had a slight flush to his cheeks. "Anything interesting happen once I left the Three Broomsticks?"

Terry looked conflicted as he considered what to tell Corinna. "We just talked," he admitted, but his shifty eyes said otherwise.

"About?"

"Stuff." Terry was definitely acting cagey now. "I don't have to tell you everything."

"You don't," said Corinna, needing to hear something good after what she had just witnessed. "Just throw me a bone."

"You just can't say anything, alright? It's not my place to say." Terry straightened up slightly and looked at Corinna. "He is into blokes, but he's still trying to come to terms with it. I just told him that I'm here for him if he needs to talk." He gave Corinna a look. "Don't say anything to anyone, alright? I said I wouldn't go bragging about it."

"You know your secret is safe with me," said Corinna. "Look at how many I have to keep on a daily basis and no one is the wiser? And this is Hogwarts we're talking about." She gave Terry a look. "Just…don't push Seamus, okay? He needs to come to terms with this on his own time."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm telling you that you can be a pushy git at times."

Terry scoffed. "Yeah, if I'm so damn pushy, how come you and Harry aren't together?"

"Can you say that just a little bit louder?" Corinna asked as Madam Pince gave them a warning "shh." "I don't think everyone in the library caught that."

It seemed that the enchantment was too much as word got around the next day that Katie was being sent to St. Mungo's. Hourly updates were being sent to the school on how she was doing, but it seemed that she will not be out in time for the Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match. Harry asked Dean to replace Katie, which, according to Terry, has put Seamus in a sour mood.

As much as she was happy that Terry had found someone, she noticed how their time together seemed to be nonexistent over the next few weeks. She tried not to be jealous as she found herself studying in the common room while Terry and Seamus took over their usual table. Maybe now people will quit assuming that her and Terry were dating.

The morning of the match, Corinna gave a quick good luck to Harry as she passed by him to sit down. She honestly debated about going to the match today. She only really went before as Terry would drag her along and he would cheer on either Ravenclaw or whoever would be best (or worst, depending on how one looked at it) for Ravenclaw. It seemed that Seamus took the tiptoe-out-of-the-closet-and-hope-people-don't-notice approach as he very willingly hung out with Terry between classes and Corinna had noticed them a couple of times snogging in not-so hidden places.

But Corinna also did not want to deny herself the chance of watching Harry fly around on his broomstick. There was something about the way he flew around on the broom like he was always meant to be up there. He had an odd sort of grace about him that she enjoyed watching.

Her need to watch Harry outweighed her disinterest in the sport as she walked with the rest of the school up to the quidditch pitch. The conditions were good for quidditch as it was clear but not too sunny. As she found a spot in the top row, she found Terry and Seamus down a few rows, pressed together as was necessary for the crowds, but Corinna didn't think that holding hands was necessary. Then again, she didn't think that was necessary when she dated Terry.

Oh, Merlin, Corinna thought desperately, I'm the jealous ex-girlfriend!

She tried to focus on the match but between watching Harry, listening to Zacharias Smith's obnoxious commentary, and actively trying not to look at Terry and Seamus, she found herself at a loss as to what even was going on. It completely went over her head that Ron was actually being a good keeper from the get-go. Before she even realized it, Harry had caught the snitch and Ginny purposefully veered into the commentator's box to crash into Zacharias.

Corinna hung back as she let most of the crowd, especially the Gryffindor's, go through first. She heard that there was a party in the common room to celebrate such an amazing win, but she couldn't help but notice how Harry seemed a bit disheartened as he was walking out of the locker room.

She gave one last glance at the crowd, knowing that Terry and Seamus were among them. Deciding to finally be a Gryffindor, she went against the grain and made her way to Harry. "Hey," she said with a bright smile. "That was a great game, Harry!"

He seemed surprised that Corinna had come up to him about something like this. "Thanks," he said. "Did you here that there's a party in the common room?"

"Yeah, I did," she said with a slight shrug. "But, you don't seem so keen on going."

"It's just…it's Ron and Hermione," he muttered. "They have been at each other's throats for weeks now. I am honestly getting sick of it."

"What happened?" asked Corinna. Not exactly how she imagined the conversation going, but she went with it.

"It all started with that stupid Slug Club thing," said Harry. "Both Hermione and I were invited and I have been purposefully scheduling practices so I wouldn't have to go and Ron wouldn't be left out. But, now there's this stupid Christmas party that he's hosting where he's making it so I have to go. We can invite a guest outside the club. Hermione was going to invite Ron, but he was being a prick, and now they have been in this endless row ever since."

"I'm sorry," said Corinna with a pang of sympathy.

Harry huffed in annoyance. "I was hoping that doing this thing today would bring them back together, but instead it tore them apart."

"Can I ask what you thought would be a good idea?"

"I pretended to slip Felix Felicis into Ron's mug to make him think he was lucky and instead he was able to not focus on his insecurities and be the good keeper that he is when he gets out of his own head."

"But you actually pretended, right?" asked Corinna.

"Yes, I know it's illegal," said Harry.

"Just making sure," said Corinna. "I know how you can be with rules."

"Like I told you last year. Breaking rules kind of just happens."

"'There's no need to call me sir, Professor,'" Corinna quoted, doing her best to sound like Harry did when he said it.

Harry nudged Corinna and she couldn't help but smile. She was finding it much easier to talk to him than she would have thought. They were already at the shadow of the castle and it felt like no time had passed. The last thing she wanted to do was go to the common room party, but it seemed that they were naturally heading that way.

"You spitting in Umbridge's face was still better," said Harry, and he glanced over at Corinna. "You got to do what everyone else wanted."

"That did feel good."

A companionable silence fell over them. It was nice. Corinna wasn't scrambling to try to fill the void, but she did keep feeling Harry's eyes on her, so she felt like she needed to say something else.

"What are you planning on doing with the Felix Felicis?" asked Corinna. "Instead of pretending to put it in your friend's morning tea."

"I don't know," Harry admitted as he pulled the bottle out of his pocket. "Probably save it for something really special, I suppose." He put it back in his pocket, as if afraid of leaving out of it's hiding place for too long. "What would you have done if you got it?"

The anger Corinna had initially felt that first class dissipated as she watched Harry continue to be brilliant at potions. At least Slughorn has acknowledged her work more than Snape ever had in the last five years, and he particularly enjoyed her essay on Everlasting Elixirs.

The thing was, she knew exactly what she would have used the potion for, she just couldn't tell Harry the truth without betraying what Dora told her. How, if she had won it, she would have given it to Dora to take before she talked to Lupin. "Like you said. Probably save it for something special, whatever that ends up being."

Corinna wasn't really paying attention to where they were going, but it seemed that they were taking the long way to the dormitory, which she was perfectly okay with. Except, of course, when they heard tweeting coming from an empty classroom. Confused, Harry pushed the door open and they stepped inside. "Hermione?" he asked as the door automatically closed behind them.

Hermione was sitting there with yellow birds circling around her head. She must have just conjured them up, and Corinna tried to suppress her jealousy. She could barely conjure one and, even then, it didn't act bird-like.

"Oh, hello, Harry, Corinna. I was just practicing."

"Yeah, there's really good," Harry said hesitantly.

There was an odd silence falling over the three of them and Corinna was wondering if she should make her excuses to leave when Hermione said, "Ron seems to be enjoying the celebrations."

"Er…does he?"

"Don't pretend you didn't see him," said Hermione. "He wasn't exactly hiding it, was—"

Before they could explain that they hadn't even set foot in the common room yet, the door was yanked open. Corinna let her jaw drop when she saw Ron came in, laughing, and pulling Lavender Brown by the hand.

"Oh," he said, stopping short when he saw Harry, Hermione, and Corinna.

"Oops!" said Lavender, giggling in a way that made Corinna wonder if she had somehow known to go into this particular classroom. She slid back out from the classroom and let the door close again. Corinna wished she could have made her exit like that.

The tension was palpable as they all seemed to look at each other and not at each other.

Ron, who refused to look at Hermione who was glaring at him with enough intensity to burn him, said with a surprise amount of bravado, "Hi, Harry! Wondered where you'd got to!"

Corinna almost wished it was her place to smack him in the arm for being so thick.

Hermione slid off the desk and the birds still circled around her. "You shouldn't leave Lavender waiting outside," she said, dangerously quiet. "She'll wonder where you've gone."

The look in Hermione's eye told Corinna that Ron's relief was going to be short lived. She pointed her wand at him and yelled, "Oppungo!" The yellow birds started attack Ron, pecking and clawing whatever they could reach. Hermione wrenched open the door and Corinna heard a slight sob before the door fully closed again.

Corinna looked back over at Harry who seemed to be at a loss as to what he was going to do about his two best friends fighting.

"I'll go talk to Hermione," said Corinna gently. "I'm sure those birds will disappear soon."

Harry just mumbled his thanks as he turned his attention to Ron.

Corinna went into the common room and found Hermione in their dormitory with her curtains drawn up around her bed and crying softly. She quietly closed the door behind her and tiptoed over. "Hermione?" she called out gently.

"Go away!"

She didn't say anything as she went over to her trunk and pulled out the small tin. "I have some homemade biscuits," she said as she sat on the edge of her bed and looked over at Hermione's. "They're peanut butter. My aunt made them."

There was a loud sniffle followed by some shuffled. Hermione pulled the curtain partway open so she could see Corinna. Her eyes were already red rimmed from crying, her face blotchy. "I'd like that, thanks."

Corinna held the tin out so Hermione could grab one. Or three, as it seemed.

Hermione kept saying disjointed statements while shoving the biscuits into her mouth. "So thick—emotional range of a teaspoon—flouting around with that…that—" She said something that Corinna never would have thought Hermione would ever say.

Corinna, smartly, did not say a word. She just let Hermione go on and say whatever she thought needed to be said.

"But, fine," she finally said, "if he wants to be childish, two can play at that game!"

"Hermione?" said Corinna cautiously. "What are you talking about?"

"Thanks for the biscuits," said Hermione, closing the curtains back over her bed.

Corinna stared at the fluttering curtains. She felt like she should say something else, but she was at a loss as to what to say to her at the moment. Instead, she put the tin of biscuits on Hermione's nightstand, and made her way back down to the party. By then, someone had snuck in some fire whiskey and she gladly took a glass.


	3. In Which Malfoy gets Caught

Christmas was quickly approaching as the bleak November turned into bleaker December. Although the castle was decorated in its usual festive glory, there was still an edge to the celebrations, even if the talk of the corridors was about Slughorn's party. Harry, of course, was the most eligible bachelor and Corinna noticed girls putting up mistletoe in hopes that they would get a kiss or an invitation to be his guest. She felt bad for the poor boy who just wanted to get to class, but he seemed to know where to go to avoid the most crowds.

It seemed that Ron and Hermione had not made up as of late, as was evident by their disastrous Transfigurations class one afternoon. They were trying to change the color of their eyebrows when Ron accidentally gave himself a mustache. Hermione laughed loudly at him, and he did a spot-on impression of Hermione raising her hand and jumping in her seat whenever a teacher asked a question.

Hermione had bolted from the classroom right as the bell rang without her belongings. Harry scooped them up along with his. Corinna needed to use the washroom and she found Hermione crying in one of the stalls.

"Listen, he's a prick," said Corinna, but her eyes had strayed to her dark blue eyebrows. She was going for purple, so at least she was close to her mark. But now she was going to have to try to change them back.

Hermione mumbled something that Corinna couldn't quite catch, but she did hear "Ron" somewhere in the statement.

"Why don't you come on out," said Corinna. "You shouldn't get this way over a stupid boy. They aren't worth it."

Hermione gave a humorless laugh as she pulled the stall door open and stepped out. Her cheeks were stained with dried tears and her eyes were red again. "Thanks, Corinna."

Corinna placed an arm around Hermione's shoulder and led her out of the bathroom as others were starting to come in to do whatever they needed to do. "It's what I'm here for." They were heading down the hall when they came across Harry carrying Hermione's things.

"Oh, thanks, Harry," she said and woodenly accepted the books. "Well, I better get going."

Hermione rushed off, hunched over her books. Corinna and Harry watched her retreat down the corridor until she was out of sight. "Whatever is going on is deeply messed up."

"I know," said Harry with a sigh. "I just don't know what to do. Neither of them are seeing to reason, and I have to keep my mouth shut unless I want to get yelled at."

"Communication goes a long way," Corinna agreed, "as long as the other party is willing to listen." Harry gave her a look and she shrugged. "I've been reading some of my aunt and uncle's old healer texts. I'm reading about mind healing, which is a weird bit of magic, not going to lie."

"How would you like to come to Slughorn's party with me tonight?"

Corinna was caught off guard by the invitation. As was Harry, so it seemed. "Slughorn's party? With you?"

"Yeah," said Harry, running his fingers through his hair, making it messier than it normally was. "We're supposed to bring guests, so I thought you might like…I mean…"

"Yes," said Corinna before Harry could babble anymore. "I'll go to Slughorn's party with you."

"Okay, well, it starts at eight," said Harry. "We can meet in the common room beforehand and walk down together."

She nodded stiffly. "Yes, sounds good," she said with a smile. "I'll see you then, Harry. Just um…you might want to get your eyebrows fixed before then."

"So should you," Harry pointed out and Corinna laughed.

"I'll see you then, Harry."

Corinna hadn't even heard Peeves teasing them. She tried to walk normally back to the common room even though all she wanted to do was skip. She saw Seamus walking towards the portrait, so she thought that Terry might be nearby. Sure enough, he was about to head into his own common room when Corinna intercepted him.

"Guess who just asked me to Slughorn's party," she said, unable to stop grinning even if she wanted to.

Terry's eyes went wide. "No."

"Yes!"

"Corinna, that's great," he said, nudging her gently. "It's about damn time, too."

"Oh, shove off!" said Corinna, but even Terry's comments couldn't bring her mood down. She broke away from him to go put her bag away before dinner. By the time Corinna got to the Great Hall, Harry was already surrounded by others, so she sat down just a few places over, in front of Hermione who was just picking at her soup.

"You okay?" she asked as she immediately poured herself a large cup of tea.

"Oh, yes," said Hermione, who was now sitting up a bit straighter. "I heard Harry is taking you to Slughorn's party."

Corinna looked surprised. "How'd you find out? That just happened."

"Peeves was going up and down all the corridors saying 'Potty loves Grouchy,'" Hermione explained and Corinna turned red. "It was pretty easy to tell who he was talking about."

"Great," said Corinna. Now she understood why Romilda Vane was glaring at her with the intensity of a thousand suns. "Are you going with anyone?"

"Yes," said Hermione as she sat up impossibly straighter. In a much louder voice, she said, "I'm going with Cormac!"

Ron immediately turned around from where he was snogging Lavender and stared at Hermione.

"Cormac McLaggen?" asked Corinna, making sure she heard Hermione correctly. Although Corinna didn't have much interaction with the man as he was in the year ahead of them, but his reputation proceeds him. She was surprised his head could fit through as many doorways as it does. There was no way that someone was brilliant as Hermione would go for someone like Cormac.

"That's right," said Hermione sweetly. "The one who almost became Gryffindor keeper."

Corinna's jaw dropped as she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. "Are you going out with him, then?" asked Parvati, who was only sitting near them since her friend Lavender was all over Ron.

"Oh, yes, didn't you know?" What made the statement worse was when she gave an un-Hermione-ish giggle. It honestly reminded Corinna of Umbridge's girly giggle that didn't match her toady appearance.

"No!" said Parvati. "Wow, you like your quidditch players, don't you? First Krum, then McLaggen."

"I like really good quidditch players," Hermione corrected. "Well, see you. Got to go and get ready for the party." She gave a not-so subtle wink to Corinna as she stood up from her bench, abandoning her untouched stew.

"This is going to be a disaster," said Corinna, mostly to herself. She hadn't even put food on her plate before she was following after Hermione. She refused to say anything else about the subject. In fact, the only thing she said was asking Corinna if she could borrow her lip gloss. She obliged, but only because Hermione had some frosty gold eyeshadow that went with her robes.

Hermione left the common room a few minutes to eight as she was meeting McLaggen at the party. Corinna felt completely out of place standing there in the same pale gold dress robes she wore to the Yule Ball since they were the only set that fit her. She turned around sharply when Harry called out her name.

"Hi," he said, looking taken aback. "Shall we get going then?"

"Yeah," she said happily, ignoring the scoffs from the other girls in the room. She honestly couldn't help but smirk as they walked out of the portrait hole. "Where is the party?"

"Slughorn's office," said Harry as he led the way down the stairs. "Did you hear, there's supposed to be a vampire coming?"

Corinna snorted. "Really? I'll believe it when I see it."

As they approached Slughorn's office, the sounds of laughter, music, and loud conversation filtered out to them. Corinna suspected that Slughorn had magicked his office to be larger than usual to swallow so many people. It was decorated heavily to reflect the festive time of year, and he had hired house elves to go around with trays of food and drink. Although she did not see them too often, she always looked at them to spot Winky, but she wasn't around. She supposed that she could try to sneak down to the kitchens one day, but she wasn't sure what she would say to her old house elf if she ever did that.

"Harry, m'boy!" boomed Slughorn as soon as Harry and Corinna were through the door. "Come in, come in, so many people I'd like you to meet!" Slughorn gripped Harry's arm very tightly and immediately led him through the party. He had to grab Corinna's hand just so she could keep up. "Harry, I'd like you to meet Eldred Worple, an old student of mine, author of Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires. And, of course, his friend, Sanguini."

Corinna immediately did not like this Worple man as he launched into a business pitch of writing Harry's biography, telling him that it was something that people would want—no, need—to read. Harry, of course, turned him down easily. When the man was about to continue with his pitch, he interrupted, "I've just seen a friend of mine, sorry." He pulled Corinna after him as he pushed his way into the crowd.

"Hermione! Hermione!"

"Harry! There you are, thank goodness! Hi, Corinna!"

"What's happened to you?" asked Harry.

"Oh, I've just escaped—I mean, I've just left Cormac under the mistletoe."

"Serves you right for coming with him."

"I thought he'd annoy Ron most. I debated for a while about Zacharias Smith, but I thought, on the whole—"

"You considered Zacharias?" said Corinna, surprised. Then again, she would love to have her favorite verbal punching bag around.

"Yes, I did, and I'm starting to wish I'd chosen him. McLaggen makes Grawp look like a gentleman." Before Corinna could ask who Grawp was, Hermione took Harry's hand. "Let's go this way, we'll be able to see him coming, he's so tall." They made their way to the other side of the room. They grabbed goblets of mead on the way and planted themselves off into the corner.

"Let's get something straight," said Harry. "Are you planning to tell Ron that you interfered at keeper tryouts?"

"Do you really think I'd stoop that low?"

"Hermione, if you can ask out McLaggen—"

"There's a difference. I've got no plans to tell Ron anything about what might, or might not, have happened at Keeper tryouts."

"Good. Because he'll just fall apart again, and we'll lose the next match—"

"Quidditch! Is that all boys care about? Cormac hasn't asked me one single question about myself, no, I've just been treated to 'A Hundred Great Saves Made by Cormac McLaggen' nonstop ever since—oh no, here he comes!"

She disappeared so quickly that Corinna was half-convinced that Hermione was never even there. McLaggen looked around, his eyes going right over Corinna as if she wasn't even there. Well, considering she was a girl that wasn't fawning over him, she might as well have used a disillusionment charm.

"Seen Hermione?" asked McLaggen.

"No, sorry," said Harry as he turned to Corinna.

She was about to ask what him and Hermione were talking about, but they were interrupted by Trelawney, smelling strongly of sherry, nearly shouting, "Harry Potter!"

"Er, hello," said Harry.

"My dear boy," she said in a stage whisper. "The rumors! The stories! 'The Chosen One!' Of course, I have known for a very long time…the omens were never good, Harry… But why have you not returned to Divination? For you, of all people, the subject is of the utmost importance!"

"Ah, Sybill, we all think our subject's most important!" Slughorn appeared on Trelawney's other side. His face was ruddy from the drink that was flowing quite freely, among both students, teachers, and guests. "But I don't think I've ever known such a natural at Potions! Instinctive, you know—like his mother! I've only ever taught a few with this kind of ability, I can tell you that, Sybill—why, even Severus—" He seemed to pull Snape out of thin air. "Stop skulking and come and join us, Severus! I was just talking about Harry's exceptional potion-making! Some credit must go to you, of course, you taught him for five years!"

Snape's eyes narrowed onto Harry. "Funny, I never had the impression that I managed to teach Potter anything at all."

"Well, then, it's natural ability! You should have seen what he gave me, first lesson, Draught of Living Death—never had a student produce finer on a first attempt, I don't think even you, Severus—"

"Really?" Snape didn't seem to believe it for a second. Then again, Corinna had to admit she wouldn't either if she hadn't seen it with her own two eyes.

"Remind me what other subjects you're taking, Harry?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology…"

"All the subjects required, in short, for an Auror," said Snape.

"Or healer," Corinna muttered under her breath, but no one was paying her any mind.

"Yeah, well, that's what I'd like to do," said Harry.

"And a great one you'll make too!"

"Professor Slughorn," wheezed Filch as he elbowed his way into their small crowd, dragging along Malfoy by his ear. "I discovered this boy lurking in an upstairs corridor. He claims to have been invited to your party and to have been delayed in setting out. Did you issue him with an invitation?"

Malfoy yanked himself away from Filch. "All right, I wasn't invited! I was trying to gate crash, happy?"

"No, I'm not!" But Filch continued to smile like a maniac. "You're in trouble, you are! Didn't the headmaster say that nighttime prowling's out, unless you've got permission, didn't he?"

"That's all right, Argus, that's all right," said Slughorn dismissively. "It's Christmas, and it's not a crime to want to come to a party. Just this once, we'll forget any punishment. You may stay, Draco."

Filch's face immediately fell into disappointment and he turned sharply away, muttering to himself. Although Malfoy started off as looking unhappy, he immediately put on a fake smile and thanked Slughorn for his generosity. Slughorn reassured it was no problem at all.

"I'd like a word with you, Draco," said Snape.

"Now, Severus," said Slughorn, "it's Christmas, don't be too hard—"

"I am his Head of House, and I shall decide how hard, or otherwise, to be." He turned back to Malfoy. "Follow me, Draco."

The left, with Snape leading the way and Malfoy looking annoyed.

"What do you think that's all about?" asked Corinna.

"Don't know," said Harry. "But, I'll be right back, Corinna. Er, bathroom."

Corinna gave Harry a look that made sure he understood that she knew what he was planning. "I'll go check on you if you aren't back in five minutes," she said simply. Harry nodded at the thinly veiled threat and left.

"So, Corinna," said Slughorn as he grabbed another goblet of mead from a passing house elf (not Winky), "I haven't had much of a chance to chat with you. Why, I knew your grandfather. I am sorry to hear of his passing."

"Really? I'm surprised. According to my father, he was a good-for-nothing drunk."

"Er, that is to say, your father," Slughorn corrected himself and Corinna immediately turned cold. "Don't worry, Corinna m'dear, your secret is safe with me."

Corinna highly doubted that one. "But, how do you know in the first place?"

"Well, I don't mean to brag or anything, but I do have connections. Yes, yes, you see, you were a ward of the state. He needed help forging some documents, and I knew someone within the Wizengamot administration who would be willing to do it quietly—for a sum, of course. People talk, but money talks louder, if you understand, Corinna."

"So, do you know who my mother is?"

"No idea. All he said that she was a Muggle, which is why he wanted to forge the documents to say that you were his and Claudia's child. I know, I know, it seemed awfully silly to me, too, but you know how some get with their blood status. Didn't want it sully the family name. Besides, you might have an easier time if there were a degree of separation from your brother."

"I suppose," said Corinna, trying to feign disappointment when she was only relieved. "Who did you put him in contact with?"

"His name was Rudyard Gaines."

"Was?"

"Passed away just a few years ago. Dragon pox, at his age!"

"I see. I'm sorry to hear of his passing."

"But, yes, back to your father. I pegged him to be the next Minister of Magic! I even got a couple of my old friends to help him figure out his administration before he put his bid in. But…well, I suppose you know what happened after that. I'm sorry to say that was part of the reason why I did not invite you to the Slug Club in the first place. But, now that I am understand you are a bright, young student, and not to mention if Harry approves of you, then I will continue to extend an invitation to you in the future."

Corinna tried not to looked miffed about that. Only invited because some boy who didn't even ask for any of this approved of her. She had half a mind to spit in his face, but it seemed that he had better people to talk to as he bid his goodbyes.

Corinna muttered curses under her breath as she made her way out of the office. She ran into Neville and Luna who were keen on drawing her in so they didn't have to keep up the conversation with the vampire, but she told them that she needed some air. She broke away from the crowd and looked around the abandoned hallway. She looked around, not knowing where Harry could have gone. She knew it would be wherever Malfoy and Snape slithered off to. She started down the hall only to be yanked next to a doorway. She had pulled her wand out to stun the offender, but he put a hand to her mouth and whispered. "It's me."

She tried to say his name, but it just came out as a garbled mess that never left her mouth. He threw the cloak over Corinna and she could finally see him. She had never been under the invisibility cloak but knew of it in legend. She thought it was surprisingly intimate.

They crouched down again and pressed their ear to the door. They were able to hear Malfoy saying, "…assistance I need, thanks, I'm not alone!"

"You were certainly alone tonight, which was foolish in the extreme, wandering the corridors without lookouts or backup, these are elementary mistakes—"

"I would've had Crabbe and Goyle with me if you hadn't put them in detention!"

"Keep your voice down! If your friends Crabbe and Goyle intend to pass their Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL this time around, they will need to work a little harder than they are doing at pres—"

"What does it matter? Defense Against the Dark Arts—it's all just a joke, isn't it, an act? Like any of us need protecting against the Dark Arts—"

"It is an act that is crucial to success, Draco! Where do you think I would have been all these years, if I had not known how to act? Now listen to me! You are being incautious, wandering around at night, getting yourself caught, and if you are placing your reliance in assistants like Crabbe and Goyle—"

"They're not the only ones, I've got other people on my side, better people!"

"Then why not confide in me, and I can—"

"I know what you're up to! You want to steal my glory!"

"You are speaking like a child. I quite understand that your father's capture and imprisonment has upset you, but—"

They didn't have much warning as footsteps approached the door. Harry pushed Corinna to the side just in time as the door burst open and a fuming Malfoy marched out of the open doorway. They dared not move until they watched Snape emerge from the classroom and returned to the party.

They stayed there for some time, Corinna aware that Harry was perfectly on top of her as they stayed underneath the cloak, but his knee was digging into her leg as to keep his limps from poking out. "You know, Harry," she said in a low whisper, "if you wanted me under the sheets, you could have just asked."

Harry scrambled to sit up and the cloak fell away from them. He was definitely sitting there, but his mind was racing. They both silently agreed not to go back to Slughorn's party. They stood and Harry shoved the invisibility cloak into his pocket.

"What did I miss?" asked Corinna as they took their time going back to the Gryffindor common room.

"Not much," said Harry. "Just more of Snape trying to find out what Malfoy is doing. He even tried scrying into his mind, but I guess Bellatrix has been teaching him Occlumency."

Corinna looked confused. "So, that basically confirmed your suspicion that Malfoy is a Death Eater."

"Hermione would point out that she might have done it solely to protect family." Harry gave Corinna a confused look in return. "Didn't you know that you're his cousin?"

"Merlin, do you want me to get sick all over your robes?" asked Corinna. "I think my aunt might have omitted who her younger sister married."

"He's on the tapestry."

"I was a little more focused on my birth name, thanks."

"Okay, but it all really just means that Snape wants to help Malfoy. Or has to. He mentioned something about an unbreakable vow."

Corinna grimaced. "That is not something people mess around with. If you break an unbreakable vow, you die. Simple as that. No wonder Snape is that desperate to help out."

"I just wish I knew what Malfoy was supposed to be doing. Then I would be able to link him to the necklace."

They made it to the portrait hole but neither didn't make a move to go inside. "So, tonight did not go as planned."

"Evidently not," said Corinna, crossing her arms over her chest. "But, it's fine. That kind of reminded me of the stupid Ministry parties my grandfather would drag me to. I hated every second of it."

"Yeah, me, too."

"Do you mind if I join the quidditch team, so I have an excuse to get out of future Slug Club parties?" asked Corinna. "He is now going to invite me to them now because of you."

"Why me?"

"He figures you are a good judge in character, and anyone associated with you is worth inviting." Corinna rolled her eyes. "Okay, he also knew my grandfather, and hadn't invited me before because of my father. You know, I am really getting sick of being constantly associated with the men in my life. Why can't I be invited because of my own merits?"

"I ask myself that all the time," Harry admitted darkly. "It's just like that Worple guy. He just cares about me being the Chosen One and what he could make off my story. There's a difference."

"There is a difference," Corinna agreed. "Even if you are this supposed Chosen One, you are still incredible, Harry, in your own right."

Harry gave Corinna a small smile. "So are you, Corinna." Before she even fully realized what was happening, Harry leaned in and gave her a chaste kiss. It felt like electricity lighting up every nerve as she automatically moved to wrap her arms around Harry and deepen the kiss. It wasn't like with Terry where she had to think about what she was doing and questioned what she was doing; she moved automatically and Harry responded as if they were somehow connected as one, his hands on her hips to keep him steady.

They might have stayed that way all night if it weren't for the Fat Lady clearing her throat loudly. "I don't have all night, you know. I've got places to be."

Corinna really wished that it hadn't immediately gone to Christmas holidays. The kiss she shared with Harry felt much to brief. She might have been glad to be home and have a break from studies, but she would have given all of that up to stay in the castle and be with Harry.

With the students back home, there wasn't as much of a need to have so many Aurors on a continuous guard. Dora still had report there to make sure that the defenses were still good and that no one undesirable went in or out, but she made arrangements so she could floo back and forth for her shifts and be able to spend the holidays with her family.

She was still glum and virtually colorless. It seemed that, while Corinna finally made progress with Harry—whatever they were now, if anything—she hadn't so much as been able to get a reply from Lupin. If she knew where her old professor was, she might have found a way to get there and give him a piece of her mind.

"How are your classes going?" Aunt Andromeda asked as they sat down for dinner that night.

"Fine," said Corinna, pushing the food around on her plate. "They're really challenging now. I feel like I can barely take a break to breathe."

"I know what you mean," said Dora, who was as keen on eating as Corinna was. "You could not pay me to go back and do that all over again."

Uncle Ted had to work that evening, so it seemed that they couldn't coordinate their shifts perfectly. His usual spot was empty at the table and his plate was set aside so he could heat it up when he got home.

"Have you heard about Katie Bell?" Corinna asked Aunt Andromeda.

"They are still trying to figure out what exactly the curse was," said Aunt Andromeda. "Once they have that, they will be able to come up with a cure. Until then, she is in a coma and we have to give her potion supplements."

Corinna's heart sank. She felt bad for the girl, missing her seventh year over a stupid cursed necklace. And she also felt bad for her parents who were going to have to spend the holidays with their daughter unconscious in the hospital.

"She'll be alright," Aunt Andromeda reassured. "We have the best healers and curse breakers on the case."

"That's good," said Corinna, but it didn't make her feel any better.

They fell silent again and Corinna shoved some roasted carrots in her mouth. "Anything else exciting going on in school?" Aunt Andromeda was trying her best to keep the conversation going. "I heard Slughorn had a Christmas party."

"Yeah, he did," said Corinna as she stabbed a piece of lamb much more forcefully than she intended. "I went with…with Harry."

"Harry Potter?"

Aunt Andromeda looked shocked and Dora gave a smirk. Corinna felt heat rise to her cheeks. She nodded and took a sip of her water to prevent a verbal answer.

"Did you have fun?" asked Dora with a knowing glint in her eyes.

"The party itself was boring," she answered, setting her glass down.

"But?"

Corinna glared at Dora. "But, I still had a good time with Harry."

"Define 'good time.'"

"I define it as none of your business."

"Girls!" said Aunt Andromeda, but there wasn't much venom behind her voice. In fact, Corinna could have sworn her lips had momentarily turned up into the tiniest of smiles. "Dora, quit pestering your cousin. Corinna…" She hesitated a moment. "I just hope you know what you are getting into."

"He's not the first bloke I've dating," said Corinna.

"That's not what I am talking about," said Aunt Andromeda. "You are smart. I know you won't do something that might have consequences later. However," she braced her elbows on the table as she leaned forward, "you know what that poor boy has been through and will continue to go through."

"I know, I was there when—"

"I'm not just talking about the situations he gets himself into, but mind that you better not find yourself in anymore situations like that, capisce? ("Capisce," Corinna automatically responded.) But I am mostly talking about his status in the wizarding world. He is essentially a celebrity. If you do decide to keep seeing this boy, that means you will also be under scrutiny, and not just among your peers. You need to be prepared for that."

Corinna hadn't considered that at all. She should have expected it. She learned of the name Harry Potter at the same time as You-Know-Who. It was a fact she grew up with that he was the reason why, at the time, You-Know-Who was no longer a menace to society. Sure, she grew to learn about the boy who was good at quidditch and had two close friends and always found himself in some sort of trouble. But, at the end of the day, he was still one of the most famous wizards. Wherever he went, people knew his name.

Can she live with the world knowing who she was? The girl always off to the side, the girl never in the spotlight, the girl who was invisible. Can she put herself out there?

It was the question that swirled around in her mind as she stared up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Between that and the kiss being toyed on her lips, she didn't think she was ever going to sleep again.

She thought back to the common room just as her and Harry were leaving. The girls glared at her as if she was the sole reason that they couldn't have Harry, as if he would be interested in anyone who only saw him as the Chosen One. Corinna liked to think she saw more than that. She saw him at some very low points. She had immediately saw the scared kid during the Triwizard Tournament when everyone else saw an attention seeking showoff. She sat with him when he was grieving his godfather and when they were cornered by Death Eaters with nowhere else to run. She'd like to think that she was above the others who only saw the Chosen One or the Boy Who Lived. But, she also had to wonder, would she have liked him if it wasn't for all of that?

The next few days leading up to Christmas were a blur to Corinna. She did her usual owl-ordering for Christmas presents, and she felt like she could finally do better this year than the last. Once all of them had time off overlapping, they decorated the house with tinsel and baubles and Uncle Ted's enchanted train. It seemed that was the only day all of them were going to be able to spend time together, much to Aunt Andromeda's annoyance more than anyone else's. She was doing her best to make it seem like a normal holiday when there would be no such thing while You-Know-Who was at large.

That Christmas Eve, as Aunt Andromeda made the meal, Uncle Ted and Corinna were sent into the kitchen to clean up after. It didn't surprise her much that, while Uncle Ted was Muggle-born, he did prefer to do some things the muggle way. Cleaning up was one of them. Although it would only take a few spells and a fraction of the time, Uncle Ted seemed to enjoy standing at the sink full of soap and hot water, scrubbing the baked-on food with strength and intensity. Corinna was to dry the dishes and put them away, but she found herself staring out the window and letting the dishes pile up on the counter.

"What's on your mind?" he asked when he found that he was done washing. "You look like you're a million miles away."

"I don't know, it's stupid," said Corinna automatically as she picked up a plate.

"Whatever it is, if it's bothering you, can't be stupid."

She hesitated a moment before relaying the inner turmoil she had been dealing with since the first night she got home. Uncle Ted remained silent, just nodding along until Corinna finished summing up the dilemma.

"I guess I just have one question for you," said Uncle Ted as he grabbed a tea towel and helped Corinna dry the dishes. "Ignoring everything else, just focusing on the two of you and nothing else, are you happy?"

Corinna's brows knit together. It was a simple answer. "Yes," she said, if the night outside the common room was any indication.

"Then there's your answer," said Uncle Ted. "If you are happy with him, then the rest you can deal with."

"How do you know?" asked Corinna. "What if I am happy with him, but can't stand the attention I'll be getting?"

"Then you aren't actually happy with him." When Corinna continued to be confused, he added. "If you are happy together, than you will be willing to work with whatever is thrown your way. If you aren't ready for that sort of thing, then you aren't actually happy."

"That seems very…black and white."

"Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. I just want you to remember that you are young. You are more than within your right to find out you aren't happy."

Corinna paused a moment in contemplation. "Is that how you and Aunt Andromeda looked at it? Since you were both happy, you could handle everything else together?"

"You mean dealing with her purist family?" asked Uncle Ted. "I know it was a hard decision for her. As much as she disagreed with her family, she still loved them. I did not ask her to give them up for me, she did that because she was happy and knew the consequences of marrying me."

Corinna slowly nodded. "I think I understand," she mumbled.

"That's good," said Uncle Ted. "But I also feel like I need to tell you off. I did tell you no dating until you're thirty."

"Are you going to do anything about it?" asked Corinna as she put the plates in the cupboard.

"I could. I'm well within my right."

"Then all I have to say is good luck."

It was only a quiet Christmas with Aunt Andromeda. She didn't like visiting Uncle Ted's family without him, and Corinna could understand her reasoning. Yes, they were family, but there was more to it than that. She grew up without interacting with muggles until later in life. There was a divide between them that was more than just "she's an in-law." Corinna didn't think she could do it either, but it reminded her that Harry also had muggle relatives.

Instead, they had a light lunch together and then just sat around the wireless. Aunt Andromeda was eager to read the muggle novels that Corinna talked about, so she had bought a few. That did require having to recruit Dora, but they went in together to get a few for her to read. Uncle Ted had left the model train in the package, eagerly awaiting to enchant it to go around without a track. Dora, apparently, did not appreciate the pink hair dye Corinna bought her from the muggle chemist she had gone to with Aunt Andromeda, but did like the book on the detailed history of her favorite quidditch team.

"Ted mentioned you two talked last night," said Aunt Andromeda. "Did it help?"

"I think so."

"I didn't mean to scare you," said Aunt Andromeda. "I just wanted you prepared for what might happen. I'm sorry if I am overstepping, but I do see you as a daughter, and I want to look out for you as such."

Corinna's heart swelled up when she heard her aunt say that. "I actually really appreciate that," she mumbled. "I wish you were my mum instead of the one I got."

"I don't think I'm supposed to agree with that, but I do, too."

Overall, Corinna had a nice Christmas and as the New Year came and went, she had mixed feelings about going back to Hogwarts. She wanted to see her friends again, but she liked the time she spent with her family, even if it felt like she had hardly seen them.

A couple of days before the start of term, Corinna went to stay with Dora as she had the time off and Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted were pulling longer and longer hours at St. Mungo's as a couple of healers in their department had disappeared and they had to pick up the slack. Dora had a small apartment above the Three Broomsticks that Madame Rosmerta had agreed to rent out to the Aurors staying in Hogsmeade. Since the little kitchenette was barely big enough to make tea in, they had most of their meals at the Three Broomsticks, and Corinna found herself sick of pub food by the end of it.

"Have you talked to Lupin at all?" asked Corinna as they sat on the floor. They had scrounged up some nail polish and were giving each other manicures.

"No," said Dora with a sigh, holding her hands out so Corinna could paint them a dark purple. "He's been underground, being a spy for the Order. It would look suspicious if he kept receiving and sending owls."

"Uh-huh," said Corinna.

"He did visit the Weasleys for Christmas," Dora admitted. "I know he received my owl, just…"

"He didn't send one back?"

She shook her head.

"And I'm guessing you aren't invited to any parties that you can try to strongarm him into going to."

"Is that what Harry had to do?"

"No, but he did wait until the day of to ask me. But that doesn't surprise me. He tends to wait until the last minute to do things. We were doing research for the second task pretty much the morning of."

"At least he eventually got there," said Dora, the humor immediately fading.

Corinna recapped the nail polish and Dora set her hands on her knees. Her fingers splayed out so they would dry evenly and not smudge. Corinna went to pick up their food that they had ordered for take away and spent most of the evening in companionable silence.

The next afternoon, Dora and Corinna trudged up to Hogwarts. Dora didn't leave until they were at the front entrance. "Have a good term," she said, and they gave each other a hug.

She was one of the first ones there, so she dropped her trunk off in her dorm and sat down in one of the good chairs by the fire. Hermione arrived just a few hours later, telling her about her dreadful night with Cormac and how she had faked sick so she could leave early.

"But I noticed you and Harry also left early," said Hermione with a slight smirk.

Corinna's heart pounded in her chest. "How much did Harry tell you?"

"Nothing," Hermione admitted. "I didn't see him after I ran off to avoid Cormac, and I didn't see him before we all left."

Corinna decided it was not her place to say anything, so she decided to let Hermione's imagination run amuck until she talked to Harry.

Speaking of, he had arrived about an hour later, once Corinna and Hermione had exhausted all the subjects that they shared in common. They locked eyes and she felt like she was floating, but knowing that he needed to talk to Hermione, she said she wanted to go find Terry and promised to meet up later."

She had found Terry just as he was walking out of McGonagall's office where everyone was getting flooed in. "Hey," he greeted, shaking the last of the ash off his trousers. "Have a good Christmas?"

"It was quite boring," she admitted. "Yours?"

"About the same," he admitted as she walked with him towards the Ravenclaw common room. "Had a row with my parents about coming back, but I told them that I couldn't put my education on hold. It was too important for me, especially since no one knows how long this thing could go on for."

"I'm sorry," she said gently.

Terry shrugged. "It's alright. I just had to promise to write every week. Now that we have all that boring stuff out of the way. You and Potter. When's the wedding?"

"You are such an arse, Boot," Corinna growled. "We just went to the party. It was boring, so we left early and took a long walk back to Gryffindor Tower. But, well…"

"Well what? Spit it out, Crouch."

"We kissed."

"What kind of kiss?"

"Close to but not quite snogging."

"I am so proud of you," said Terry. "It only took you over a year to get to this point."

"Oh, shove off! We aren't even anything. We just went to one stuffy party and kissed."

"But I know you will," said Terry. "I can feel it in my bones."

"So, what about you and Seamus?"

"Seamus told his mum who didn't take it so well as he had hoped. He's really down about it."

"I'm sure she'll come around," said Corinna.

"Let's hope so," said Terry. "Let's meet up for break tomorrow. Our usual table?"

"Sounds good." She made her way back to the common room. Harry and Hermione were still talking in low voices by the fire, and Ron was off snogging Lavender in the corner. When Hermione spotted Corinna, she seemed to make a hasty excuse to leave and headed up to the girl's dormitory. Corrina took that as her cue and sat down in the seat she had just deserted.

"How was your holiday?" asked Harry as he stared into the fire.

"Fine," said Corinna with a shrug. "Kind of boring, actually. Yours?"

"Er, Rufus Scrimgeour and I had a row," said Harry and Corinna's eyebrows quirked up. "He wants me to be a Ministry spokesperson."

"And you told him to turn around so you can show him where your foot fits?"

"Not so graphically, but yeah."

"Honestly, the nerve after what they did to you last year. Sure, it isn't Fudge groveling for your help, but it might as well be."

"Glad to know everyone is on the same page when it comes to the Ministry," said Harry.

They fell silent. Harry glanced up from the fire and Corinna could feel herself growing hot. "So, about that kiss?" Corinna finally asked. "I rather enjoyed that."

"Yeah?" asked Harry, leaning forward in his seat. "Me, too."

"So, does that mean we're…"

"Only if you want to…"

"In that case, get your arse over here so we can show Ron and Lavender how it's done."

"You do have a way with words." Instead of following Corinna's orders, Harry took her hand and dragged her over to him.

"Terry said I have the eloquence of a well-educated sailor, whatever that means."


	4. In Which Ron Becomes Interesting

The next morning, a large sign was posted overnight alerting sixth years that apparition lessons were going to be taking place over the next few months. Corinna eagerly signed up after Harry, but they had scurried off when Lavender started talking to 'Won-Won.' In a surprise move, Ron had managed to get away from Lavender and met them in the portrait hole, causing Hermione to rush ahead of them.

"So, Apparition," said Ron. "Should be a laugh, eh?"

"I dunno," said Harry. "Maybe it's better when you do it yourself. I didn't enjoy it much when Dumbledore took me along for the ride."

"You get used to," said Corinna with a shrug. "It's how Dora got me back and forth."

"You both have already done it?" Ron suddenly looked anxious. "I'd better pass my test first time. Fred and George did."

Corinna tuned out of the conversation as she noticed more glares and whispers than usual, all of them from girls around her age. She had to keep reminding herself that she knew what she was getting into, and she was happy.

"Hey, you alright?" asked Harry as they took seats in the Great Hall. They were surrounded by their fellow sixth years who were all excitedly talking about apparition.

"Yeah, brilliant," said Corinna as she poured herself some tea. They were both in their own little world, reading over the Prophet when Corinna's copy arrived when they were dragged back into the fray.

"Harry and Corinna have already done it—side-along Apparition, you know," Ron bragged to Seamus and the others, and they were suddenly bombarded with questions about it. Even during their lessons, they were constantly asked to describe it, and no one was deterred by how it felt like being squeezed through a tube.

They were sitting in the common room later than evening. Corinna was getting annoyed with everyone bugging them as she just wanted to get some homework done. She was surprised when Harry suddenly stood up and said that he needed to return a book to the library. Corinna offered to go with him, but he took her hand and whispered in her ear that he had to go meet Dumbledore.

So, she sat back down on the couch. There were a couple of stragglers who asked a few more questions, but the crowd eventually dissipated. It was a relief as she still had half of her Herbology essay to write. But, it seemed that Morgana has cursed her as none other than Romilda Vane sat down across from Corinna.

"Why did he pick you?" She spat out the last word as if it tasted bitter.

"Gee, I don't know," said Corinna, not looking up from her textbook where she was trying to find information to pad out her essay, "maybe it's because I treat him like a human being and not like a commodity."

"You must have given him a strong love potion in order to get him to fall for someone like you. You can't even cover up your acne correctly. It just looks blotchy."

"At least I can cover up my acne. There's nothing you can do about your personality."

Vane's lip quivered. "We'll see who wins him in the end, Crouch."

"Probably me since I don't see his affections as a prize to be won."

"Why, you—" Before Vane could pull her wand out, Corinna had hers leveled. "Flipendo!" she said, causing the couch to flip over and Vane to tumble to the ground.

She scrambled to her feet, her perfectly styled hair falling in front of her face. "You're dead, Crouch!"

"Not yet." Corinna slammed her book shut, grabbed her bag, and made her way to the dormitory. She did her best to ignore all the stares and whispers being thrown her way.

The next morning during breakfast, Harry was confiding in Ron and Corinna what Dumbledore had shown him the night before (as Harry had to spend the time getting down to breakfast catching Corinna up to speed on what Dumbledore had been showing him all year). Hermione, of course, was sitting away from Ron as far away as possible. But before Corinna could share her thoughts on how Harry should go about extracting the real memory from Slughorn, McGonagall was trudging down the lane between the two long tables, making a beeline for Corinna.

"Oh, damn," she said under her breath.

Harry looked confused as McGonagall stopped right behind them. "Crouch, come with me to my office."

She gave Harry an apologetic look but dared not say anything as she stood and followed McGonagall to her office. Once she saw a teary-eyed Romilda Vane sitting in front of the desk, she knew what this was all about.

"Do you care to explain to me what happened last night?" McGonagall demanded as she sat down behind her desk and curtly pointed to the vacant for Corinna to sit.

Corinna gave one last glare to Vane, but she kept up the show with a loud sniffle. "Professor, I was sitting there in the common room, minding my own business and writing my charms essay, when Vane came over and started accusing me of stealing Harry out from under her." Under her breath, she added, "As if she ever had a chance."

"What was that, Miss Crouch?"

"As if she had any chance, Professor. She was trying to sneak him a love potion, last I heard."

"Is that true, Miss Vane?"

"I only gave him some cauldron cakes for Christmas," said Vane, in a small voice. The innocent act was honestly so pathetic. "The only thing they have in them is fire whiskey, but the alcohol would be cooked out."

Corinna would eat her left arm if it wasn't laced with something else.

"I should hope so as love potions have some very, very nasty side effects and are, as I am sure you are well aware, banned within Hogwarts."

"Of course, Professor." Vane seemed to be struggling to not smirk.

McGonagall gave her a look and turned back to Corinna. "What happened after that?"

"Vane was about to pull out her wand—"

"No, I wasn't!" Vane was quick to defend, moving to the edge of her seat. "Corinna must have misinterpreted my movement."

"Then why did I see your wand in your hand?"

"Ladies!" McGonagall gave the floor back to Corinna to finish her side of the story.

"So, I used the knockback jinx. The only thing I did wrong was be a better duelist than Vane, Professor."

"That's for me to decide," said McGonagall. "Miss Vane, go to class."

Vane nodded as her lip quivered, but Corinna knew it wasn't from being upset. She collected her bag and shuffled out of the office. Once the door closed, McGonagall turned back to Corinna.

"I will see you tomorrow night in my office for detention," McGonagall said she sat started to write.

"But, Professor—"

"It is prohibited to attack a student, whether it was provoked or not. As you were the only one who cast a spell and the rest is she said, she said, I have to give you detention. Tomorrow night, my office at eight o'clock. You are dismissed."

Corinna's jaw clenched as she grabbed her bag and angry tears threatened her eyes. She stormed out of the office with her fists clutched to her side. Vane was standing off to the side, grinning. She made some snarky comment but Corinna didn't hear. She made her way to the library to meet up with Terry during their free period. She told him what happened last night in the common room.

"What a prat!" said Terry. "And you were the one who got detention?"

"I had gone five-and-a-half years at this stupid school without getting detention!" muttered Corinna, thankful that Pince was busy on the other side of the library. "Now that Vane girl has gone and ruined it."

"You seriously never got detention before this?"

"There was a time I used to keep my nose clean."

"And what does Potter think of you defending his honor?"

"I didn't defend anything," said Corinna as she rubbed her temples at the mounting headache building there. "Vane's just a spoilt brat who thinks she can get whatever she wants by any means necessary. And I didn't even mention this to him. I didn't think Vane would go crying to McGonagall over something as stupid and petty as this."

"She's trying to get under your skin," said Terry and they made to grab their books when Pince glanced their way, but neither of them had any intention on getting work done. "I would be careful if I were you."

"I am not threatened by her," said Corinna as she stared at her unfinished Herbology essay. "I am not about to let the likes of her ruin this for me."

She met Harry, Ron, and Hermione in potions and broke away from Terry as he went to the Ravenclaw table. Hermione took the seat next to Ernie that Corinna usually occupied and, by the looks the three of them sported, she didn't think Hermione was being nice by letting her sit next to Harry. Before they could get a chance to talk, Slughorn called attention. He talked of Golpalott's Third Law about antidotes and blended poisons. Even Corinna had a hard time following along about what was said, and she could only hope that she even got the gist as they were sent to take a vial of poison and create an antidote. She had followed Hermione up to his desk and grabbed a vial at random before everyone else got the cue that they were also supposed to grab a vial.

"It's a shame that the Prince won't be able to help you much with this, Harry," said Hermione when the other three came back with their vials. "You have to understand the principles involved this time. No short cuts or cheats!"

"What is she talking about?" asked Corinna, looking at Harry who seemed at an utter loss.

"It's nothing," muttered Harry, and Corinna couldn't help but be miffed that she was being shut out like this. Hermione gave another indignant "humph" and focused on her work.

Corinna decided to do the same. She dumped the contents of her vial into the cauldron. "Specialis revelio," she muttered and separated each of the separate ingredients. At least she managed to get a poison without too many components as it seemed like she was having a hard time identifying them and looking up the possible antidotes for each. She had barely just began making her antidote when Slughorn called time being up.

Slughorn went around the room, looking at everyone's disappointing attempts at the antidotes. Hermione's was the farthest one along, but it seemed that Harry was somehow the best despite the fact that he didn't even manage to start an antidote.

"You've got a nerve, boy!" said Slughorn after a roar of laughter. "Oh, you're like your mother. I can't fault you as a bezoar would certainly act as an antidote to all these poisons!"

Corinna wasn't sure how she felt about that. On the one hand, she was annoyed that Harry was continuing to be the star of Potions class, but she certainly wasn't angry as Hermione who looked like she was about to have a cow. The bell rang and they packed away. Harry seemed to be taking his time and he shook his head. It seemed he was going to use Slughorn's good mood to get the memory for Dumbledore. She wished him a quick good luck before following the rest of the class out of the room.

They met up in the common room after dinner. It seemed that both Ron and Hermione were annoyed at Harry for different reasons. She sat on one of the couches with Corinna leaning into Harry. They had their homework out, but neither of them were paying attention to what they were doing.

"What's this I hear you jinxed Romilda Vane?" asked Harry.

Corinna rolled her eyes. She told Harry what happened the night before and of what happened in McGonagall's office. She did take a leaflet from Terry's book and exaggerated just how much Vane was laying it on.

"She gave you detention for defending yourself?"

"It's McGonagall. I'm sure all I have to do is write lines, and not with my own blood." She couldn't help but look at Harry's hand where the words 'I must not tell lies' were white marks scarring his skin. "Although there goes my record of never having detention."

"You've never had detention before this?"

"Merlin, I need to sit you and Terry down and remind you of my obnoxiously boring history."

"I doubt it is as boring as you make it seem," said Harry.

"So, who's this Prince Hermione referred to earlier?" asked Corinna, abruptly changing the subject from herself.

"It's nothing," said Harry, looking down at his textbook.

"As you said earlier," said Corinna. She glanced up at Harry, his messy hair covering the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. As interesting as the history behind the scar is, she was more interested in Harry's deep green eyes. "But it's obviously not nothing and I will keep bugging you until you tell me."

Harry seemed to hesitate a moment before pulling his copy of Advanced Potion-Making. "Just…have a look," he said.

Corinna set her own book aside and took Harry's. She opened it to one of the first few pages and stared at all the writing in the margins. "Holy shite," she said, and continued to flip through it. She saw that whoever owned this book before had written alternatives to certain steps. Although some were contradictory, something clicked within Corinna.

"This is how you have been suddenly so good at potions," accused Corinna as she sat up straighter so she could fully face Harry. "You weren't suddenly good because you have a competent teacher. It's…it's whoever wrote all this."

"He called himself 'The Half-Blood Prince,'" Harry explained.

Corinna snorted. "Quite pretentious."

She continued to look through the book and saw that it wasn't just notes about various potions. There were also spells and other notes within the margins. The cramped handwriting made it hard to read, but it was fascinating all the same. Pretentious or not, she would love to meet someone who had this level of knowledge about potions. But, as she read on, her jaw clenched and her eyes burned.

"Are you angry?"

"Yeah, I'm angry," said Corinna as she slammed the book shut. "You didn't get all that praise on your own merit. You were copying someone else's work."

"Well, it turns out I needed to get into Slughorn's good graces since it's going to be harder than I expected to get that memory."

"You were already in his good graces," she pointed out. "And you didn't know you needed the memory until last night." She slammed the book shut and shoved it back at Harry. "I'm going to bed."

"Wait, Corinna!" But she didn't hear what she said as she grabbed her bag and stomped up the stairs.

What annoyed Corinna most about this whole thing was the fact that she had detention because of that cheater.

It wasn't lines like she assumed. She helped McGonagall organized student files. "But if you open any of them, I'll hex your fingers off." She wasn't certain if that was an empty threat, so she dared not so much as let a piece of paper shift into view. Since not much thinking was involved, she thought over what had happened last night now that she was no longer angry. In reality, she could not blame Harry for following this Prince's instructions. If she was being honest with herself, she probably would have done the same thing if she had come across a book of that nature. She admitted so much to Harry when she came back from detention with all her limbs still attached.

"You know, I didn't think we would get our first fight over with in the first forty-eight hours of dating," said Corinna to help lighten the mood, and it seemed that Harry needed it as he was barely talking with Ron and Hermione. "That has got to be a record."

Corinna and Harry spent most of their evenings together, at least the ones that Harry didn't have quidditch practice. He invited Corinna to tag along, but she told him she would once it quit being so damn cold out. She would much rather sit by the fire and wait for him to get back inside. And then force him to go take a shower since, despite the cold, he still got sweaty and sometimes did not smell the most pleasant.

He also decided to lull Slughorn into a false sense of security by keeping up with being his favorite little potion maker. That was the only reason why Corinna hadn't asked him to let her have some information as to what the Prince suggested to do. If this memory was so important to stopping You-Know-Who, it was more important than her final potion grade. He was also hoping to use the Slug Club as a way to get him to talk, but it seemed that no one had received an invitation. Slughorn did not want to give Harry an opportunity to corner him, especially with alcohol being involved.

Even the library failed Hermione. She wasn't able to find a single thing about Horcruxes, the subject of the missing memory. "I've been right through the restricted section and even in the most horrible books, where they tell you how to brew the most gruesome potions. Nothing! All I could find was this, in the introduction to Magick Moste Evile. 'Of the Horcrux, wickedest of magical inventions, we shall not speak nor give direction…' Why mention it, then?" She looked between Corinna and Terry who were sitting in the library doing their homework. "Could you let Harry know, thanks?"

"What's a horcrux?" asked Terry, "and why does Harry need to know?"

"No idea. He mentioned something about extra work with Slughorn." The lie rolled off Corinna's lips. Some things just weren't going to change.

"'Course," said Terry, in which he launched into another tirade about how Harry was suddenly so good at potions. Corinna couldn't blame him because that was how she acted their first day of classes when Harry had won the Felix Felicis from under her. Instead, she just tuned him out and focused on the text she was supposed to read by next Defense class. She was glad when Seamus came by to distract Terry.

January faded into February without much applause as it just left the snow behind and left mud in its wake. She was still getting jeers in the hallways, but it wasn't as bad as in the beginning. No one, at the very least, decided to try to provoke an attack, but Harry still showed Corinna some of the hidden passageways through school so she could avoid the one who hasn't given up: Romilda Vane.

At least the mark of February meant that sixth years could start apparition lessons every Saturday morning. Harry, Hermione, and Corinna went into the Great Hall where all the tables had disappeared. They gathered towards where the staff table would normally be in front of a wispy wizard. He introduced himself as Wilkie Twycross and he was to be their Ministry Apparition Instructor for the next twelve weeks.

"I hope to be able to prepare you for your Apparition test in this time—"

"Malfoy, be quiet and pay attention!" barked McGonagall. Everyone looked around to where Malfoy was standing and he flushed to a dull pink. He angrily stepped away from Crabbe and acted as if he was never called out in the first place.

Even Twycross continued as if he wasn't interrupted, as if he has been saying the same speech over and over again for decades. "by which time, many of you may be ready to take your test."

"As you may know, it is usually impossible to Apparate and Disapparate within Hogwarts. The Headmaster has lifted this enchantment, purely with the Great Hall, for one hour, so as to enable you to practice. May I emphasise that you will not be able to Apparate outside the walls of this Hall, and that you would be unwise to try.

"I would like each of you to place yourselves now so that you have a clear five feet of space in front of you."

People were jostling around to get into position, and Corinna broke away from Harry and Hermione to find a spot by the wall, but it seemed that Harry had other plans. He was rushing off to where the Slytherins were mostly gathering. With a huff of annoyance, she followed after him. "Harry?"

He turned and gave Corinna a look and she immediately clamped her mouth shut. They managed to find spots behind Malfoy and Crabbe.

"I don't know how much longer all right?" It seemed that Malfoy was using the chaos to continue his conversation that McGonagall called him out on. "It's taking longer than I thought it would." There was an exchange of looks that Corinna couldn't see from her position. "Look, it's none of your business what I'm doing, Crabbe, you and Goyle just do as you're told and keep a lookout!"

"I tell my friends what I'm up to, if I want them to keep a lookout for me."

Corinna glanced over at Harry and gave him a look that told him he would make a terrible spy. But he was defiantly watching Malfoy's reaction, who was about to pull his wand from his robes when the Heads called for attention. Everyone in the hall turned back to Twycross. After a gracious thank you, he pulled his wand out and caused old-fashioned wooden hoops to instantly appear in front of every student.

"The important things to remember when Apparating are the three D's: destination, determination, deliberation. Step one: fix your mind firmly upon the desired destination. In this case, the interior of your hoop. Kindly concentrate upon that destination now."

There was some shuffling and murmuring coming from the students as they were sent to task. Corinna stared down at the interior of her hoop. She stared until she went cross-eyed and realized just how much she wasn't paying attention to it, just telling herself to pay attention to it. She didn't think that was good enough.

"Step two: focus your determination to occupy the visualized space. Let your yearning to entire it flood from your mind to every particle of your body."

Corinna heard Harry bite back a laugh and she quickly shot him a look. But pointed to Ernie, whose face was so red he looked like he was trying to, as Harry would say later, a quaffle-sized egg.

"Step three," Twycross's call brought them back to reality and they focused on their hoods, "only when I give the command…turn on the spot, feeling your way into nothingness, moving with deliberation. On my command, now…one—"

There were some murmurs around them as people were surprised that they were already being asked to apparate. Corinna knew for a fact that she was not ready.

"—two—"

Corinna could feel a bead of sweat falling down her neck and pool on the collar of her robes. She was concentrating on that more than she was concentrating on her hoop.

"—THREE!"

Corinna spun on the spot, and nearly toppled over. She stumbled into her hoop, and would have fallen on her face if Harry hadn't regained his balance first and caught her. At least she wasn't the only one. She saw a few of her classmates on their back, and Ernie gave an elegant pirouetting leap into his hoop.

"Never mind, never mind," said Twycross, who seemed to not have expected much better from the students. "Adjust your hoops, please, and back to your original positions."

The next few attempts were only good in Corinna's eyes because she didn't need help preventing her from landing on her face. On the fourth attempt, she thought she felt something tugging in her gut, but it immediately disappeared when she heard a blood curdling scream coming from the middle where a few Hufflepuffs were. Much to everyone's horror, Susan Bones was wobbling in her hoop, but had left one of her legs back outside the hoop. Prepared for something like this, the various heads of houses converged onto Susan and, within moments, he leg was reattached to where it belonged.

"Splinching, or the separation of random body parts," said Twycross as if this were a teachable moment and not a scarring one, "occurs when the mind is insufficiently determined. You must concentrate continually upon your destination, and move, without haste, but with deliberation. Thus," he stepped forward, turned gracefully, and disappeared in a flutter of robes. "Remember the three D's," he said at the back of the hall, "and try again…one—two—three."

The hour seemed to melt away with only Susan's splinching being the most interesting thing to occur. Twycross made the hoops vanished and told them to think on the three D's and to see them next Saturday.

"How did you do?" asked Ron, hurrying towards Harry as people started filtering back out to the Entrance Hall. "I think I felt something the last time I tried—a kind of tingling in my feet."

"I expect your trainers are too small, Won-Won," said Hermione from behind. She stalked passed them, smirking.

"I didn't feel anything," said Harry. "But I don't care about that now—"

"What do you mean? Don't you want to learn to Apparate?"

"I'm not fussed, really. I prefer flying." He glanced back behind and then started pushing Ron and Corinna towards the stairs. "Look, hurry up, will you, there's something I want to do."

Ron and Corinna gave each other a look before chasing after Harry. They were detained in the fourth floor by Peeves who would only allow you to pass if you set fire to your trousers, but they backtracked and used one of the handy shortcuts. It was only a few minutes later that they were climbing through the portrait hole. Harry made a beeline for the boy's dormitory and, not knowing the rule that allowed girls to go up, she hung back while they did whatever they needed to do.

When Harry came back down to the common room just a couple minutes after Neville had rushed up smelling singed, all he said was that he needed to keep an eye on Malfoy. Corinna just rolled her eyes but didn't press. What they heard during Slughorn's party and at Apparition lessons were suspect, but she didn't think it was worth bringing the funny map Harry had of Hogwarts that showed where students were.

February sluggishly turned towards March without much change. There were fewer girls glaring at her, so she was glad she listened to Uncle Ted's advice and just focused on her happiness. Everything else faded—quite literally—into the background.

Apparition lessons weren't going well for Corinna. During the third lesson, she had splinched her wand arm. It was grotesque to see ones limb just laying there, but the Heads, much like they did for Susan, had converged on Corinna and righted her with an odd-looking potion. Instead of looking like a cleaver was taken to her shoulder, she was just left with angry scars that, McGonagall reassured, will fade in time.

After that, Corinna was not interested in continuing lessons, but felt like she had to since she already spent the twelve galleons and Dora said in her letter that she'll make arrangements with the Ministry so Corinna's test would be held when she got back after summer term.

Much to the chagrin of everyone, a noticed went up on all the notice boards that the March first Hogsmeade trip was canceled. Ron was especially vocal about it as it was scheduled for his birthday. But, it came at no surprise as Katie was still at St. Mungo's. Even Aunt Andromeda quit mentioning her in her letters as one can only write, "Still no change," so many times. She was at least thankful for the occasional letter as it reassured Corinna that they were still safe. It was an almost daily occurrence to see a familiar name.

Thankfully, there was still time to get Ron's present snuck into the castle. Dora was, surprisingly, thrilled to help with such a thing. They weren't trying to sneak anything into the castle that was technically illegal, they probably would not allow such a thing to go through the normal owl post, however. It took some communicating through patronus (which Corinna learned the theory and put it to practice by sending Terry messages while he was in the Ravenclaw common room), but Dora was able to make the excuse of needing to check the various wards around the perimeter and was able to hand the present off to Corinna while Harry and Ron were at quidditch practice.

"He's Harry's best mate," Corinna reminded. "Plus, maybe he'll be nice and let us have some."

Dora rolled her eyes. "I can't say much. That's precisely what I would have done. Tell Ron 'Happy Birthday' from me, will yah?"

"Yeah," said Corinna. "Bye, Dora."

She trudged back up to the castle with the present tucked safely into her bag. She went up to her dormitory and hid it in her trunk in her dress robe. She found a spot in the common room and camped out there until Harry got back. It was awhile later that Harry and Ron trudged into the common room. Since he wasn't covered in mud and smelled like whatever musky soap he used, she guessed they had stopped by the Prefect's Bathroom before coming up.

"So," said Harry as he sat down next to Corinna on the couch. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder as she set her book aside. "I swore I saw you outside, by the gates."

Since Ron was busy with Lavender, she thought she was safe to talk about it. "I was," she said easily. "I was meeting Dora to get Ron's present. Nothing illegal, but something that wouldn't have gotten through owl screening."

"Do I want to know?" asked Harry, reaching up to tuck a lock of hair that had escaped from Corinna's plait behind her ear.

"You'll just have to find out tomorrow," said Corinna. "We'll try to give him a good birthday even if we can't go to Hogsmeade."

Harry sighed softly. "I just wish Ron and Hermione would make up by now. It's been months at this point."

"I know." She reached up and ran her thumb over Harry's temple to get rid of the worry lines. "You can't force it. They have to work this out on their own when they are ready."

"I know," said Harry, leaning into Corinna's hand. "Just wish there was something to help push things along."

Corinna lowered her hand and glanced over to the corner where Ron and Lavender were going at it. It was impossible to tell which limb belonged to who. One would think that, after doing this for a few months, they would make it look more like snogging rather than wrestling. "I have a few ideas."

"To get Ron and Hermione to make up, or for what we could be doing?"

"Hey, you were the one who suggested it," she reminded as she turned back to Harry and draped her legs over his lap. "But I do like the sound of that."

That morning, Corinna waited in the common room for Harry and Ron to get down. Hermione had rushed to breakfast with only enough words to say that she was going to be in the library all day. Unfortunately, she was joined by Lavender, who had a package in her hands as she waited for Won-Won. Corinna forgot that this day would also entail Lavender, but at least her gift would help deal with that.

Much later than expected, Harry was leading Ron down from the boy's dormitory. Lavender immediate sprung up telling Ron that he was late. He didn't even look over at Lavender when he said, "Leave me alone, Harry's going to introduce me to Romilda Vane."

Corinna caught Harry's eye and she let them be. He also gave Lavender an amused look, and she turned even more indignant as the portrait hole swung closed.

"Romilda Vane!" Lavender shrieked, causing the few people who were meandering in the common room to look over. "What does she have that I don't?"

"Love potion," Corinna muttered under her breath. She didn't know exactly what happened, but she highly doubted that Ron had suddenly grown an infatuation with Vane overnight. And he had the telltale signs Corinna remembered reading about.

Lavender did not hear Corinna, thankfully, as she rushed into their dormitory. With a sigh, Corinna put the bag over her shoulder and trudged down to the Great Hall alone. She was certain that whoever Harry turned to would be able to fix Ron right up before apparition lessons. It would be something they would laugh about that afternoon.

Corinna was picking at her porridge when she saw a red-faced Slughorn running as fast as he could manage down the hall to the staff table. He beckoned to McGonagall and Pomfrey and talked to them in a low, rush voice. Without hesitation, they followed Slughorn back the way they came.

"What do you think that's about?" Seamus asked.

Corinna had a bad feeling about it. She stood up from the bench and went into the Entrance Hall. She went up the stairs and froze when a stretcher came into view, holding a body that was as white as a sheet. McGonagall had her wand trained on the stretcher as they made their way over to the Hospital Wing. Pomfrey was in tow, looking over the student as they went. She looked over at Harry, who had emerged from Slughorn's office looking white and shaken as well.

"What happened?" she asked as they followed after them. Harry didn't speak until he got to the Hospital Wing, but McGonagall firmly closed the door behind her so they could not enter.

In short, panicky statements, Harry explained how he had taken Ron to Slughorn to get the antidote for the love potion. Slughorn, upon hearing that it was Ron's birthday, had produced a bottle of mead that was intended for Dumbledore as a Christmas gift. Ron took a sip and started frothing at the mouth and convulsing. Harry was lucky to have found a bezoar in Slughorn's potions kit or else…

"Don't think about that," said Corinna, wrapping her arm around Harry's waist. They heard footsteps and Dumbledore and Slughorn appeared. She awkwardly stepped away, keeping her arms to her side. Harry recounted what happened to Dumbledore when Slughorn went into the Hospital Wing. Once Harry was done, Dumbledore went into the Hospital Wing as well. It almost became a game on who would come in and out. They sat down on the bench outside of the Hospital Wing, Corinna holding Harry's hand so it would shake so much.

After explaining to McGonagall, she rushed off to alert Ginny as well as send a fast owl to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Eventually, Ginny came down with Hermione in tow. As they demanded what happened, Harry recounted the events. Corinna heard the story so much that she almost felt like she was there. It turned into a discussion about how Ron had been poisoned that carried the discussion. Hermione was uncharacteristically quiet after demanding Harry what had happened. She sat on the opposite bench, looking lost.

Finally, at eight o'clock, they were allowed in to visit him. Madam Pomfrey told them that he was to stay a week or so to keep taking essence of rue. But they hardly paid attention as they rushed over to Ron's bed. He was the only one who occupied one in the hospital wing, and he still looked at white as the sheets around him, his hair looking almost black in comparison. As they were out in the hall, they didn't realize that the sky outside had grown dark.

They were all silent for a few minutes until Fred and George came in.

"So, all in all, not one of Ron's better birthdays?" said Fred as they pulled up chairs to join the vigil.

"This isn't how we imagined handing over our present," said George grimly. He placed the package on the bedside table.

"Yeah, when we pictured the scene, he was conscious."

"There we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him—"

"You were in Hogsmeade?" asked Ginny.

"We were thinking of buying Zonko's," said Fred. "A Hogsmeade branch, you know, but a fat lot of good it'll do us if you lot aren't allowed out at weekends to buy our stuff anymore. But never mind that now. How exactly did it happen, Harry?"

Harry grudgingly repeated the story. His voice was almost monotone with how often he had to recount the events.

"Blimey, it was lucky you thought of a bezoar," said George.

"Lucky there was one in the room." Knowing it made his tense up whenever he thought about how one false move from Harry would have ended in Ron's death, Corinna reached over to took his hand again. She'd like to think she was helping.

They launched into asking questions about the poison, something Harry, Ginny, and Corinna already discussed at length. They had came to the conclusion that the poison was intended for Dumbledore and they were using Slughorn as a means to an end.

"Then the poisoner didn't know Slughorn very well," said Hermione. She spoke for the first time in hours. "Anyone who knew Slughorn would have known there was a good chance he'd keep something that tasty for himself."

"Er-my-nee," croaked Ron from the bed. He hadn't moved except to say that and everyone was waiting with bated breath for him to move or say something else. But, it seemed that was all he had in him because he remained still.

The doors burst open and everyone turned to see Hagrid coming in, leaving large, muddy footprints in his wake. But nothing compared to him holding the crossbow.

"Bin in the forest all day! Aragog's worse, I bin readin' to him—didn' get up toer dinner till jus' now an' then Professor Sprout told me abou' Ron! How is he?"

"Not bad," said Harry. "They say he'll be okay."

"I don' believe this," said Hagrid hoarsely. "Jus' don' believe it….Look at him lyin' there…Who'd want ter hurt him, eh?"

"That's just what we were discussing," said Corinna. "We don't know."

Hagrid had suggested it was Quidditch related, but it seemed much bigger than that. But Corinna had to agree that Oliver Wood, the Quidditch captain until their third year, would have done it to the Slytherins if he would have guaranteed to get away with it.

"Well, I don't think it's Quidditch, but I think there's a connection between the attacks," said Hermione. When Fred asked how she figured that, she continued. "Well, for one thing, they both ought to have been fatal and weren't, although that was pure luck. And for another, neither the poison nor the necklace seems to have reached the person who was supposed to be killed. Of course, that makes the person behind this even more dangerous in a way, because they don't seem to care how many people they finish off before they actually reach their victim."

Before anyone could comment on that ominous note, the doors opened again and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came bustling down the ward. They had made sure that Ron was okay before Mrs. Weasley seized Harry and hugged him very tightly.

"Dumbledore's told us how you saved him with the bezoar," she sobbed. "Oh, Harry, what can we say? You save Ginny, you saved Arthur, now you've saved Ron."

Harry tried to get a word in edgewise, but his mouth was pressed to Mrs. Weasley's shoulder, so it just came out as muffled garble.

"Half our family does seem to owe you their lives, now I stop and think about it," said Mr. Weasley. "Well, all I can say is that it was a lucky day for the Weasleys when Ron decided to sit in your compartment on the Hogwarts Express, Harry."

Harry seemed to be at a loss for words, so it almost came as a relief to him when Madam Pomfrey came in saying that only six people were allowed to visit at once. Harry, Hermione, and Corinna both stood up to leave, but Hagrid joined them so to leave the family alone.

"It's terrible," said Hagrid as the four of them headed for the marble staircase. "All this new security, an' kids are still getting' hurt. Dumbledore's worried sick. He don' say much, but I can tell."

"Hasn't he got any ideas, Hagrid?" asked Hermione.

"I 'spect he got hundreds of ideas, brain like his. But he doesn' know who sent that necklace nor put poison in that wine, or they'd've bin caught, wouldn' they? Wha' worries me is how long Hogwarts can stay open if kids are bein' attacked. Chamber o' Secrets all over again, isn' it? There'll be panic, more parents takin' their kids outta school, an nex' thing yeh know the board o' governors'll be talkin' about shuttin' us up fer good." He shook his head when Hermione voiced her descent. "Gotta see it from their point o' view. I mean, it's always bin a bit of a risk sendin' a kid ter Hogwarts, hasn' it? Yer expect accidents, don' yeh, wit hundreds of underage wizards all locked up tergether, but attempted murder, tha's diff'rent. S'no wonder Dumbledore's angry with Sn—"

Hagrid tried to stop himself from saying too much, but it was too late. "What?" said Harry. "Dumbledore's angry with Snape?"

"I never said tha'," said Hagrid. "Look at the time, it's getting' on fer midnight, I need ter—"

"Hagrid, why is Dumbledore angry with Snape?"

"Don' shout stuff like that, Harry, d'yeh wan' me ter lose me job? Mind, I don' suppose yeh'd care, would yeh, not now yeh've given up Care of Mag—"

"Don't try to make me feel guilty it won't work! What's Snape done?"

"I dunno, Harry, I shouldn'ta heard it at all! I was comin' outta the forest the other evenin' an' I overheard 'em talking—well, arguin'. Didn't like ter draw attention to meself, so I sorta skulked an' tried not ter listen, but it was a—well, a heated discussion an' it wasn' easy to block it out. Well—I jus' heard Snape sayin' Dumbledore took too much fer granted an maybe he—Snape—didn' wan' ter do it anymore—"

"Do what?"

"I dunno, Harry, it sounded like Snape was feelin' a bit overworked, tha's all—anyway, Dumbledore told him flat out he'd agreed ter do it an' that was all there was to it Pretty firm with him. An' then he said summat abou' Snape makin' investigations in his House, in Slytherin. Well, there's nothin' strange abou' that! All the Heads o' Houses were asked ter look inter that necklace business—"

"Yeah, but Dumbledore's not having rows with the rest of them, is he?" said Harry.

"Look, I know what yeh're like abou' Snape, Harry, an' I don' want yeh ter go readin' more inter this than there is."

"Look out," said Hermione.

They turned just in time to see Argus Filch round the corner. "Oho! Out of bed so late, this'll mean detention!"

"No, it won', Filch. They're with me, aren' they?"

"And what difference does that make?"

"I'm a ruddy teacher, aren' I, yeh sneakin' Squib!" When Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, arrived around his ankles and hissing, he called back to the group. "Get goin'!"

They did not need to be told twice. Harry, Hermione, and Corinna hurried off back to Gryffindor Tower. The Fat Lady was annoyed to be woken at such an hour, but let them go inside once they gave the password. Hermione bade them goodnight as she headed for the girl's dormitory. There was no one seating around the common room and Harry wordlessly made his way over to the dying fire. He sat down on the edge of the chair and Corinna was uncertain if he wanted company or not. With a sigh, she followed after him and sat down in the chair next to his. He stared at the embers, looking lost in thought. His brows were furrowed as his mind seemed to move a mile a minute. She propped her head up, her elbow braced against the armrest. She, too, stared at the fire, but she felt herself drifting off more than she was thinking about…whatever it was that was going through Harry's head. She knew it had to do with what Hagrid told them, but it didn't seem to surprise Corinna one bit. Dumbledore probably set Snape up to talk to Malfoy about whatever it is that they suspect he's doing, because he's up to something. Snape may be a git, but he was still in the Order and Dumbledore trusted him…

"There you are, Potter!"

They were both immediately on their feet, the thought of sleep gone from Corinna's mind. They both had their wands trained on Cormac McLaggen, who was sitting up by one of the chairs in the back.

"I've been waiting for you to come back. Must've fallen asleep. Look, I saw them taking Weasley up to the hospital wing earlier. Didn't look like he'll be fit for next week's match."

"Oh, right, Quidditch. Yeah, he might not make it."

They pocketed their wands as McLaggen said, "Well, then I'll be playing Keeper, won't I?"

"Yeah, I suppose so…"

"Excellent. So when's practice?"

"What? Oh, there's one tomorrow evening."

"Good. Listen, Potter, we should have a talk beforehand. I've got some ideas on strategy you might find useful."

"Right. Well, I'll hear them tomorrow, then. I'm pretty tired now…see you…"

McLaggen bade Harry a good night, and Corinna was convinced that he didn't even know she was there. She turned to Harry and gave him a look.

"I just made a mistake, didn't I?"

"Let me just put it this way," said Corinna. "I think you were better off asking me or Hermione to join the team."


	5. In Which a Long-Awaited Reunion Occurs

The week leading up to the match was an odd one. That Sunday, everyone had heard about Ron and kept asking Corinna what happened. Especially Lavender. She demanded to know why she wasn't contacted. She was his girlfriend, after all. Corinna just told her to take it up with him, and then took one of the secret passageways to get away unseen.

Every night after practice, Harry would sit next to Corinna and complain about McLaggen, about how he acted like he could play every position better than everyone else and how he needed constantly reminder on who the captain was. She didn't even pay much attention, just giving a "Yeah," or "Screw him!" where important. She might have attempted to do her homework during this, but that would probably be much too rude.

On Saturday morning, she found herself walking with Terry and Seamus to the stadium. Terry was in support of Gryffindor since the game was against Hufflepuff. "But all bets are off once we get to Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor."

Corinna just started humming the tune of "Weasley is Our King" and Terry sulked.

It was a bright day outside with very little breeze. Corinna saw as Harry shook hands with the Hufflepuff captain (some seventh year; she couldn't recall the name). They rose up and Harry seemed to need to remind McLaggen to go to the Gryffindor hoops. Soon there were off and it seemed that Luna Lovegood had somehow got the honor of being the quidditch announcer. The most interesting parts when she started talking about things that were not a part of the game, like the shape of clouds. It was at least more palatable than when McLaggen started criticizing the other players instead of defending the hoops like he was supposed to.

"What was Harry thinking?" Seamus demanded. "Peeves would have made a better keeper."

"Don't give him any ideas," muttered Corinna. She glanced up to see Harry circling the pitch in search of the golden snitch. He didn't seem to be paying much attention to his teammates as McLaggen suddenly had possession of a beater's bat he took from Peakes.

"I can't watch," said Seamus, rather dramatically. "Tell me when it's over."

Corinna wished she had blocked her eyes like Seamus had. She watched in horror as McLaggen hit the bludger and sent it careening towards Harry. With a sickening thwack, Harry fell off his broom and was falling limply. The two beaters converged almost instantly to catch him from falling, and Dean went to grab his broom. They lowered him to the ground and the teachers converged on Harry.

"I'm going to kill him," said Corinna as she moved to stand, but Terry grabbed her arm from preventing her from moving.

"It looks like Hooch is doing that for you," said Terry as he stared at the teachers were who now moving Harry's body from the pitch. "Merlin, he looks as white as—"

"Don't say it," Corinna hissed as she followed Harry until they had disappeared into the locker room and, presumably, to get him to the Hospital Wing.

It was a tense few minutes with people talking all around them. Corinna heard none of it, and barely saw the other players as they circled around Hooch to discuss what happened. She was quite surprised to see that they had all went back onto their brooms and went back into positions, even McLaggen. Ginny volunteered to be seeker and, while she was good, they were still down a chaser and they were still allowing McLaggen to play.

Not wanting to sit through the match, Corinna stood up. Terry made to follow her, but she told him that she wanted to be alone. That much was true, a fact she regretted once she got to the Hospital Wing and the doors were firmly shut. She paced outside them, unable to sit still while she waited for news. Eventually, the Gryffindor quidditch team sans McLaggen were making their way down the hall.

"Heard anything?" asked Ginny, who was heading up the lead of the group.

"She won't let me in. Won't even answer when I knock now. Did you at least leave a little bit of McLaggen for me to hex?"

"No guarantees," said Dean. Since both him and Ginny were in the DA last year, Corinna wasn't surprised.

Eventually, Hermione came down. She was stuck in the crowd trying to leave the stadium. "I also saw McLaggen," and Corinna knew she would not have her shot. "You lot didn't leave much for me to do."

Ginny just smirked at Hermione.

The doors to the hospital wing finally opened and Madame Pomfrey looked exasperated. "Only six visitors at a time."

One of the beaters—the one who isn't Peakes and Corinna honestly couldn't remember his name—volunteered to come back later. With his back turned to them as he headed for the staircase, the others filed into the dormitory with Corinna and Hermione taking up the lead.

Harry still looked pale, but he had more color to him than the sheets around him, at least. He had his head wrapped in some bandages and Madame Pomfrey explained to them that he suffered a cracked skull and a concussion. Ron was talking animatedly to the rest of the team, but Corinna didn't hear much of it.

People filtered in and out all afternoon. Ginny came back once she showered, and even Terry and Seamus had stopped by. Terry, for his part, only kept the teasing that Gryffindor lost by over two-hundred points to a minimum. But, the fact that Ginny threatened him with a bat-bogey hex was probably the root cause for keeping it to a minimum.

It wasn't even curfew yet when Madame Pomfrey was ushering everyone out of the hospital wing. She suspected that Harry would wake soon, and he shouldn't get over-excited. "We'll just visit in the morning, then," said Corinna as she joined the others as they left the hospital wing. As excited as Corinna was to hex McLaggen further into oblivion, he wasn't in the common room, which was an oddly somber affair as they tended to whenever Gryffindor lost a quidditch match. Not wanting to sit around and socialize any longer, she made her way to the girl's dormitory and laid down on the bed without changing into pajamas.

Hermione and Corinna went and visited Harry and Ron as early as the possibly good, much to Madame Pomfrey's annoyance. But, since it was within curfew and as long as they promised not to over-excite Harry, she let them in.

"How are you feeling?" Corinna asked as she sat down next to Harry. Hermione, she noted, sat closer to Ron.

"Like I was hit in the head with a bludger," Harry said bluntly, but he seemed to be in much better spirits than Corinna expected, especially since Ron filled him in on their spectacular loss. "Have you gotten your second detention for cursing McLaggen."

"First off, I don't think McGonagall would give me detention for that since she also gave him a dressing down." At least, that is what Ginny told them. "And second, I haven't even gotten my chance to hex him. Your team and Hermione took care of that."

"You sound disappointed."

Corinna rolled her eyes as she automatically took Harry's hand. She still saw the limp form falling from his broom whenever she looked over at him. It was hard to shake from her mind.

"Just promise me you won't have McLaggen for the next match," said Corinna, finding it much easier to joke than to deal with the lurching feeling inside her. "It's the only thing that keeps Terry humble."

"Nope, I will be in keeping shape," said Ron, also seeming in better spirits.

"Oh, good," said Corinna and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I thought you said you weren't all that interested in Quidditch," said Harry.

"Do you want your girlfriend to support you or not, Potter?" asked Corinna, and she immediately cringed. That was the first time she had called Harry by his family name, and she thought she sounded like Bellatrix.

No one else seemed to notice, especially since Ron started talking strategy with Harry, but he didn't seem fully into it. His mind seemed to be a million miles away. Hermione had to remind them that they still had homework that needed to be done and they both groaned. It almost became routine throughout the day that they would attempt to do homework, and someone would come by and visit. The only time that things deviated was when Lavender came in and Ron pretended to have fallen asleep with his Herbology text on his face. Lavender kept shooting daggers at Hermione until she gave up and left the Hospital Wing.

"You're going to have to talk to her sometime," said Harry when Ron pulled the Herbology book back down. "If you want to break up with her, just get it over with."

Ron muttered something under his breath, but Corinna didn't quite catch it. They let it go as Hermione gladly looked over their essays. That was, according to Harry, a sign that things were going back to normal. Even Hermione offered to look over Corinna's, which she gladly obliged. At least, until she got her essay back and it was marked up more than it would normally be.

"Don't feel so bad," said Harry as she showed her his essay. That did make Corinna feel a tiny bit better as she went about rewriting her essay.

It was a bit before curfew that Madame Pomfrey kicked Hermione and Corinna out of the Hospital Wing, but they were back that very morning when they were officially released. Other than running into a very young looking first year who dropped their scales and Hermione gladly repaired them for her, and Luna who delivered a letter to Harry to visit Dumbledore that evening, the day went by as it normally did. Corinna, Hermione, and Ron had stayed up to hear from him about what Dumbledore had to say, which boiled down to You-Know-Who blaming a murder on a house elf so he could take a couple of priceless heirlooms that were supposedly owned by two of the founders of Hogwarts, and how he wanted to take up the Defense Against the Dark Arts post but Dumbledore had refused and ever since they have not been able to keep a teacher for more than a year.

But what was more important was Harry getting that memory from Slughorn. It was, according to Dumbledore, the missing piece of the puzzle to help everything else make sense.

That next Sunday, they sat by the fire late into the night. Harry, unable to think of anything throughout the week, was now pouring over his annotated copy of his Advanced Potion-Making text. Hermione, of course, was convinced that he wasn't going to be able to find anything that will be helpful in his endeavor. Ron was hunched over his Defense essay as he was busy panicking earlier about the Appartion test coming up on the twenty-first of April. There would also be heavily supervised practices to take place in Hogsmeade leading up to it. Corinna and Harry weren't all bothered by it since they wouldn't be able to take the test yet, but Ron was worried as he hadn't managed to Apparate yet. Corinna pointed out that she hadn't either, but he wasn't hearing anything of it.

It also didn't help that Ron had been using a Spell-Check quill with it's spell wearing off. Hermione had to intervene so that he didn't have to completely rewrite his essay. She took his essay and pulled out her wand to spell the spelling mistakes away.

"I love you, Hermione."

Hermione turned pink. "Don't let Lavender hear you saying that."

"I won't. Or maybe I will, then she'll ditch me."

"Why don't you ditch her if you want to finish it?" asked Harry.

"You haven't ever chucked anyone, have you? You and Cho just—"

"Sort of fell apart, yeah."

"It's really not that difficult, Ron," said Corinna, trying not to let the Cho comments get to her.

"You broke up with a bloke who likes other blokes," Ron pointed out.

"I still broke up with him."

"And remained the best of mates. You and Terry probably laughed when you two broke up."

Corinna had no rebuttal to that. "Still, if you're miserable, you need to end it. It's what's best for both you and Lavender."

"You know, I just noticed something," said Ron, obviously trying to change the subject from him and Lavender's failed relationship. "You dated blokes that have rhyming names. Harry, Terry."

"Good thing that's a common rhyme," said Corinna without missing a beat. "I could potentially date a Barry or a Jerry or I could really go off the rails and date a Carrie. But let's get back to the problem at hand instead of pointing out something that's inconsequential, shall we?"

"There," said Hermione, handing back the essay to Ron.

"Thanks a million," said Ron, ignoring Corinna as he took his essay back. "Can I borrow your quill for the conclusion?"

Corinna rolled her eyes as she took one of her quills from her bag and handed it off to Ron since it seemed that Harry was a million miles away as he looked about the now-empty common room. Now that Ron was focusing on finishing his essay, it was oddly quiet in the common room with only the scratching of the quill and the crackle of fire and the crack of an Apparating house elf.

Corinna nearly jumped out of the couch she shared with Harry when a house elf she had never met before appeared in front of them. Harry seemed to have known him as he said, "Kreacher."

There was another crack and a house elf that Corinna recognized from last year. It was the same house elf that came to Harry to warn him that Umbridge had found out that they were hosting D.A. meetings in the Room of Requirement. What was his name again?

"Dobby has been helping too, Harry Potter! And Kreacher ought to tell Dobby when he is coming to see Harry Potter so they can make their reports together!"

"What is this?" said Corinna.

"What's going on Harry?" Hermione demanded.

Harry hesitated a moment as he looked between Corinna and Hermione. "Well, they've been following Malfoy for me."

"Night and day," added Kreacher.

"Dobby has not slept for a week, Harry Potter!"

"You haven't slept, Dobby?" asked Hermione, looking indignant. "But surely, Harry, you didn't tell him not to—"

"No, of course I didn't," said Harry. "Dobby, you can sleep, all right? But has either of you found out anything?"

"Master Malfoy moves with the nobility that befits his pure blood," said Kreacher. "His features recall the fine bones of my mistress and his manners are those of—"

"Draco Malfoy is a bad boy!" said Dobby. "A bad boy who—who—" He made to dive for the fire, but Harry caught him as if he was expecting Dobby to do something of the sort. "Thank you, Harry Potter. Dobby still finds it difficult to speak ill of his old masters."

"Wait, you used to be the Malfoy's house elf?" asked Corinna, her brows furrowing.

"Yes, and Kreacher used to be Sirius's until he gave me his house and, by extension, Kreacher," said Harry, rather impatiently.

"And Kreacher should know that Draco Malfoy is not a good master to a house elf," added Dobby.

Harry moved them along to focus on what Malfoy had been doing.

"Master Malfoy eats in the Great Hall, he sleeps in a dormitory in the dungeons, he attends his classes in a variety of—"

"Dobby, you tell me. Has he been going anywhere he shouldn't have?"

"Harry Potter, sir, the Malfoy boy is breaking no rules that Dobby can discover, but he is still keen to avoid detection. He has been making regular visits to the seventh floor with a variety of other students, who keep watch for him while he enters—"

"The Room of Requirement! That's where he's been sneaking off to! That's where he's doing…whatever he's doing! And I bet that's why he's been disappearing off the map—come to think of it, I've never seen the Room of Requirement on there!"

"Maybe the Marauders never knew the room was there," said Ron.

"I think it'll be part of the magic of the room," said Hermione. "If you need it to be unplottable, it will be."

"Dobby, have you managed to get in to have a look at what Malfoy's doing?"

"No, Harry Potter, that is impossible."

"No, it's not. Malfoy got into our headquarters there last year, so I'll be able to get in and spy on him, no problem."

"But I don't think you will, Harry," said Hermione. "Malfoy already knew exactly how we were using the room, didn't he, because that stupid Marietta had blabbed. He needed the room to become the headquarters of the D.A., so it did. But you don't know what the room becomes when Malfoy goes in there, so you don't know what to ask it to transform into."

"There'll be a way around that," said Harry. "You've done brilliantly, Dobby."

"Kreacher's done well, too," added Hermione.

"The Mudblood is speaking to Kreacher. Kreacher will pretend he cannot hear—"

"Get out of it," Harry snapped. Kreacher disappeared after a low bow, and Harry turned to Dobby. "You'd better go and get some sleep too, Dobby."

"Thank you, Harry Potter, sir!" He, too, vanished.

"How good is this?" asked Harry, turning back to the others once the elves were gone. Ron was busy trying to salvage his essay, as the surprise visit caused him to spill ink all over it. Hermione just took it from him and syphoned the ink off with her wand.

"But what's all this about him going up there with a variety of students?" asked Hermione. "How many people are in on it? You wouldn't think he'd trust lots of them to know what he's doing—"

"Yeah, that is weird," said Harry. "Corinna and I heard him telling Crabbe it wasn't Crabbe's business what he was doing. So, what's he telling all these…all these…Merlin, I've been stupid! It's obvious, isn't it? There was a great vat of it down in the dungeon. He couldn't nicked some any time during that lesson."

"Nicked what?" asked Corinna.

"Polyjuice Potion. He stole some of the Polyjuice Potion Slughorn showed us in our first Potions lesson. There aren't a whole variety of students standing guard for Malfoy, it's just Crabbe and Goyle as usual. Yeah, it all fits! They're stupid enough to do what they're told even if he won't tell them what he's up to, but he doesn't want them to be seen lurking around outside the Room of Requirement, so he's got them taking Polyjuice to make them look like other people…Those two girls I saw him with when he missed quidditch—ha! Crabbe and Goyle!"

"Do you mean to say," said Hermione, "that that little girl whose scales I repaired—?"

"Yeah, of course! Of Course! Malfoy must've been inside the room at the time, so she—what am I talking about?—he dropped the scales to tell Malfoy not to come out, because there was someone there! And there was that girl who dropped the toadspawn, too! We've been walking past him all the time and not realizing it!"

"He's got Crabbe and Goyle transforming into girls?" asked Ron. "Blimey, no wonder they don't look to happy these days. I'm surprised they don't tell him where to stuff it."

"Well, they wouldn't, would they, if he's shown them his Dark Mark?"

"The Dark Mark we don't know exists," Hermione pointed out as she handed Ron back his essay.

"We'll see," said Harry.

"Yes, we will. But, Harry, before you get all excited, I still don't think you'll be able to get into the Room of Requirement without knowing what's there first. And I don't think you should forget that what you're supposed to be concentrating on is getting that memory from Slughorn." She slung her bag over her shoulder. "Good night."

They watched her go up to the girl's dormitory. "What do you two think?"

"Wish I could Disapparate like a house elf," said Ron. "I'd have that Apparition Test in the bag."

"I think you're forgetting which cousin you are dating," said Corinna.

"Wait, cousins," said Harry, which was not what Corinna wanted him to pick up on. "What if you talked to Malfoy like you did with Umbridge."

"Fat chance," said Corinna, rolling her eyes. "First of all, with Umbridge, I was going off her relationship with my grandfather. From there, I just had to say and do the right things to get her to trust me. And, even then, I'm pretty sure she was still aware of what I was doing. Even if I had the entire year to try to get on Malfoy's good side, do you think he would trust me with something like this? Like you heard, he wouldn't even trust Crabbe to know exactly what he was doing, and they have been mates since at least our first year, if not before since I'm sure their old Death Eater parents are chummy. He wouldn't trust me to piss on him if he was on fire." She made a face. "Not that I would, mind you."

"Okay, I see your point," said Harry with a sigh. "Just a thought."

"Well, get it out of your head," said Corinna. She leaned up and gave Harry a kiss. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

The other two mumbled it back as Corinna went up the stairs.

Since she spent most evenings in the common room with Harry and the others, she dedicated her free periods to spending it with Terry and occasionally Seamus, in the library. Today, it seemed, it was just Terry.

"Excited for the Apparition test?" asked Corinna since she was caught up on her homework.

"No," said Terry, who was looking miserable. "I was barely able to get it down on Saturday and the test is only a few weeks away. There's no way I'll be able to do it perfect by the time it comes around."

"I'm sure you will," said Corinna gently. He lucked out as his birthday was just a few days before the test. "If not, you can come with me when Dora takes me after summer term."

"I know, but, wouldn't it be so cool to Apparate as soon as I get off the train?" asked Terry.

"I mean, it's not that big of a deal."

"Says the girl who's already done side-along Apparition. You just have to hang out with your cousin. My parents don't even like Apparating unless they have to. My parents take the Underground to work."

"I mean, that's understandable," said Corinna. Now that she was used to the feeling, it was alright. The problem was that she could not seem to manage to actually Apparate. "Listen, I know this is a bit off topic, but you by any chance know how to get into the kitchens?"

"Well, yeah," said Terry like it was obvious. "My sister taught me my first year. It's in the basement behind the painting of the fruit bowl. You just tickle the pear."

"That's not a euphemism, is it?" asked Corinna.

"Not unless you ask nicely," said Terry. "Why do you ask, anyway?"

"Just something I should have done a long time ago but have been avoiding," said Corinna as she grabbed her bag. "I'll see you in Defense."

She left the library and made her way down the stairs just at the start of break. She joined the flow of Hufflepuffs who were going to their common room. She broke off when she came across the painting Terry described. She stared at the painting for a long moment, as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world.

Corinna didn't pretend to not know why she didn't ask about this sooner. She knew since the end of her fourth year that Winky had joined the Hogwarts house elves after her father had given her clothes. She had all of her fifth year and most of her sixth to visit and she didn't. Much like she couldn't bring herself to go into her brother's room or needed to be drunk to visit her father's study: she may still be Corinna Crouch, but she was no longer that Corinna Crouch, and she didn't want to go back to that time if she could avoid it.

With a steadying sigh, she tickled the pear and it wiggled a bit before the portrait swung open to reveal the bustling kitchens. House elves were scurrying every which way and gave Corinna no mind. She immediately spotted Dobby and Kreacher, who both looked better after getting some sleep.

"Corinna Crouch, miss," said Dobby, bowing deeply. Kreacher just sneered at her. She may be as much of a Black as Malfoy, but she was not extended the same courtesy. She was just fine with that.

"Hi, Dobby, Kreacher," said Corinna. Now that she was here, she wasn't sure what to do or what to say. "I was…I was actually looking for Winky, my old house elf."

"Winky is not well, Corinna Crouch," said Dobby. "Winky is only drinking and neglects her duties. Dobby picks up the extra work as to not let the other house elves revolt against Winky."

"Okay," said Corinna, guilt rising up inside her. She should have tried before this instead of just hoping to chance across Winky. Hindsight proved that she wouldn't have seen Winky anyway. "Okay, thank you Dobby." She turned to leave, but then turned back around. "Actually, Dobby, could you just tell her that I was asking about her and that I am still thinking about her."

"Of course, Corinna Crouch," said Dobby, bowing low again. "Anything for a friend of Harry Potter."

"Thanks," said Corinna and officially turned on her heel to head out of the kitchens. She hadn't realized how much time she had spent dawdling going into the kitchen as break was nearly over. She booked it up the stairs, but even then, she was going to be late for Defense.

And, so it seemed, was Harry.

"Oh, great," said Corinna when they met up in the corridor leading to the classroom.

"Snape is going to have a field day with this one," agreed Harry.

Knowing what was going to happen either way, they walked into the classroom at the same time.

"Late again Potter, Crouch," Snape muttered as they rushed to their seats. "Ten points from Gryffindor." Corinna thought they were going to get off easy for Snape, but then he added, "Each."

They weren't even that late as many people where still on their feet and getting organized for class. She glanced over and saw Terry smirking and she gave him a rude gesture as Snape had his back turned to them. Once everyone had their essays on their desks, Snape summoned them to his desk and placed them in a neat pile. He was about to dive into talking about the Cruciatus Curse when Seamus asked what the difference between an Inferius and a ghost, as an article in the Daily Prophet mentioned them.

"No, there wasn't," said Snape. "If you had actually read the article in question, Mr. Finnigan, you would have known that the so-called Inferius was nothing but a smelly, sneaky thief by the name of Mundungus Fletcher."

"I thought Snape and Mundungus were on the same side," Harry muttered to Ron, Hermione, and Corinna. "Shouldn't he be upset Mundungus has been arrest—"

"But Potter seems to have a lot to say on the subject," said Snape loudly. "Let us ask Potter how we would tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost."

Everyone turned to face Harry, and Corinna gave him an encouraging smile since she hadn't a clue. "Er, well—ghosts are transparent—"

"Oh, very good," said Snape, his lip curling. "Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. 'Ghosts are transparent.'"

The class around them were laughing and smirking, but none as loud as Pansy Parkinson. "Yeah, ghosts are transparent," continued Harry despite the leering, "but Inferni are dead bodies, aren't they? So they'd be solid—"

"A five-year-old could have told us as much. The Inferius is a corpse that has been reanimated by a dark wizard's spells. It is not alive, it is merely used like a puppet to do the wizard's bidding. A ghost, as I trust that you are all aware by now, is the imprint of a departed soul left upon the earth, and of course, as Potter so wisely tells us, transparent."

"Well, what Harry said is the most useful if we're trying to tell them apart," defended Ron. "When we come face-to-face with one down a dark alley, we're going to be having a look to see if it's solid, aren't we, we're not going to be asking, 'Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?'"

Laughter rippled through the class, but it was immediately quelled by Snape's sneer. "Another ten points from Gryffindor. I would expect nothing more sophisticated from you, Ronald Weasley, the boy so solid he cannot Apparate half an inch across a room."

"No," Hermione hissed to Harry as he opened his mouth. "There's no point, you'll just end up in detention again."

Snape then told them to open their books to read about the Cruciatus curse. It was a bit tense after that and many were eager to leave class. Lavender had caught up with Ron and Hermione mysteriously disappeared. She was glad that Terry met up with her so she didn't have to deal with Lavender as both Ron and Harry said they needed to go to the lavatories.

"So, was that whole kitchen thing a distraction so you could meet up with Potter instead?" asked Terry with Seamus and Dean trailing behind them, still talking about Inferni.

"No," muttered Corinna, "both of us being late was a coincidence," and she only had one guess as to what Harry was up to. "I went to see my old house elf."

"Oh." Terry immediately lost his teasing mood. "How'd that go?"

"Didn't see her. I talked to Dobby, one of the other house elves, and he said she is drunk a lot of the time. She doesn't even do her work and he picks up the slack."

"I'm so sorry," said Terry with a frown. "Are you going to try again?"

"I asked Dobby to pass her along a message, so we'll see. I probably took too long to see her in the first place. I basically abandoned her…"

"I'm going to point out that you really don't owe her anything as she was dismissed by your father and no longer your house elf. But I also know you, Corinna. You don't see it that way since you were so close."

"I still should have done something sooner."

"You weren't ready and, apparently, neither is she." Terry placed a hand on Corinna's shoulder. "Don't be so hard on yourself for taking the time you need to come to terms with what happened to you."

Corinna always thought that she avoided Winky because she would remind her of the time before. Now she was wondering if there ever was a before or after—a clear divide on when her life turned upside down. In a way, it had always been like that, it just took awhile for it to manifest itself.

The week went on without much fanfare, punctuated by Harry trying to corner Slughorn after class to no avail. They had a small birthday party for Terry in one of the empty classrooms as he had friends outside of Ravenclaw and he very much appreciated the pastries that Aunt Andromeda made for him, as well as the anti-filching wallet that Corinna thought he might like as his always getting his stolen in the Underground. ("I blame Muggle trousers," he muttered.) It was supposed to emit a loud noise if someone that wasn't Terry tried to take it from his pocket, something that Seamus just had to try out, but everyone knew what he was actually trying to do. He had been in better spirits lately since him and his mum have been sending letters back and forth. She still wasn't fully on board, but Seamus was at least welcome back home, which was definitely progress.

On Sunday, the sixth years who were of age were lined up in the Entrance Hall to head down to Hogsmeade for Apparition practice, the last time they will be able to practice before the test. Corinna had a pang of jealousy since she had to wait until summer. At least she was finally able to Apparate at the end of the last lesson. That gave her a little hope for when she took the test.

"You'd do better," said Hermione when Harry confided in them that he was going to do another attempt at the Room of Requirement, "to go straight to Slughorn's office and try and get that memory from him."

"I've been trying! He doesn't want to talk to me, Hermione! He can tell I've been trying to get him on his own again, and he's not going to let it happen!"

"Well, you've just got to keep at it, haven't you?"

The short queue was moving closer to Filch and his secrecy sensor, so Harry and Corinna moved out of the line so they wouldn't be overheard by the caretaker. They moved towards the marble staircase, but she stopped at the base of it. "Just an hour," she reminded him. Letting Harry have his time to stalk Malfoy wasn't completely altruistic. It just happened to work out in her favor. "I'll see you soon."

Once Harry disappeared (quite literally) up the stairs, she turned back towards the entrance to the basement. She was a bundle of nerves as she made her way back to the kitchens and went inside. The house elves were busy at work preparing lunch and paid Corinna no mind. She just rushed past them to the back corner where Winky was sitting on an overturned crate, clutching a half empty bottle of butterbeer to her chest. Dobby stood by her and Corinna was quite relieved that Kreacher wasn't around. She didn't want to deal with his snark.

"M-m-mistress Corin-hic-inna," Winky croaked, her already large, round eyes seemed impossibly larger and rounder.

"Hey, Winky," said Corinna as she sat down in the impossibly short stool. Even for her height, her knees were bunched to her chest. "It's good to see you again. I'm sorry I didn't visit earlier."

Winky sniffled loudly and started rocking on the crate. She mumbled things that Corinna could barely catch, but she did hear Winky call herself a disappointment.

"You aren't a disappointment," said Corinna firmly. "What happened wasn't your fault."

"If only Winky could keep Master Barty in the tent," said Winky, her voice stumbling from the drink.

Corinna thought it would have better for someone to stab her in the heart. It would have hurt a lot less. "I should have stayed. I abandoned both of you when you needed me most." As much as she now despised her then-brother, she knew how much he meant to Winky. She owed her that much. "It's my fault my father gave you clothes."

Winky was full on sobbing now, spilling the butterbeer down the front of her soiled shirt. She went to catch Winky before she fell off, but Dobby intervened faster as he seemed prepared for such a fall. Winky was quickly growing distraught as another house elf came and draped a blanket over Winky.

"Come back later, Corinna Crouch," Dobby pleaded as Winky dumped the rest of her butterbeer onto her face when she tried to take another drink. "Dobby will try to keep Winky from the butterbeer."

There were a million things she wanted to do and say to Winky, but all she could do was nod and leave the kitchen. Tears prickled her eyes as she straightened up and tried to ignore the failed attempt at talking with Winky. She still had some time before she was planning on dragging Harry away from the Room of Requirement, so she went into her dormitory to quickly freshen up. She didn't think it was much of an improvement, but she grabbed her bag anyway and made her way to meet Harry.

He was alone when he threw off his cloak and looked annoyed at his lack of progress. "Hey," he said and immediately looked concerned. "You okay? You look like you were…"

"Crying?" Corinna supplied and was immediately annoyed with herself. "It's not that big of a deal. I just tried to talk with Winky and, well, I think I made things worse."

"Dobby did mention that she's always drunk," said Harry as they walked towards the staircase together.

"I just wish there was something I could do, but I'm at a loss."

"I'm sure you'll think of something."

Corinna let that statement fall as she tried to move away from talking about it. "I'm guessing you didn't have any luck with the Room?"

"Obviously," said Harry. "I did run into your cousin. Tonks, that is."

Corinna's brows furrowed. "What was she doing in the castle?" What she really wanted to ask was why Dora hadn't come to see her.

"Dunno," Harry admitted, "all she mentioned was that she wanted to talk to Dumbledore, but he's gone again. But I think she wanted to talk about Sirius."

"Sirius? Why?"

"Well, I mentioned him, and she got all weepy."

Sirius was their cousin and it was weird losing a family member they barely knew, but she didn't think that Dora and Sirius were all that close. If she was going to be weepy over someone, well, it wasn't someone she was going to mention to Harry. It wasn't her place to talk about Dora's personal life.

"Figure she misses him a lot," he added when Corinna hadn't said anything.

"Yeah, I'm sure," she mumbled as they made their way back to the Entrance Hall.

"What are we doing anyway?" asked Harry.

"We are finally going to have a proper date," said Corinna. "I hardly count Slughorn's party as one, since it wasn't all that fun and ended with us eavesdropping on Malfoy and Snape."

"Really, because I thought it officially ended with us snogging in front of the Fat Lady."

"Anyway," said Corinna forcefully, "since we mostly just hang around the common room and, most of the time, it is with Ron and Hermione, I thought we could go sit out by the lake and have a picnic." She had nicked some extra food at lunch the previous day and used a cooling charm to keep it fresh. "And, yes, it is still chilly, but that is why you are invited to help keep me warm."

"Oh, I see how it is," teased Harry as he draped his arm over Corinna's shoulder.

They had laid out her bedspread by the lake and Corinna offered him a sandwich, which he gladly accepted even if it was slightly soggy from being leftover. They kept the topics of discussion light, with Harry talking of his plans on how he plans on beating Ravenclaw ("As long as you don't go telling Boot," warned Harry, which earned him a playful nudge to his side from Corinna.) and Corinna talked about how much happier she has been since moving in with Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted ("You will like them," Corinna insisted, "especially since Aunt Andromeda used to play seeker when she was at Hogwarts."). They kept flipflopping topics until Corinna found herself underneath Harry. Even the rocks digging into her back didn't stop her from enjoying some of the things they did.


	6. In Which Hermione Gets Proven Right

Summer was quickly approaching, bringing with it patches of blue skies and warmer weather. As much as Corinna wanted to pick up where they left things, Winky hasn't been in a right state to talk. Both Harry and Terry reassured her that she'll get her chance to make things right, but she had a feeling that was never going to happen at this point. Winky might be too far gone and Corinna much too late.

Harry hadn't made much progress with Slughorn or Malfoy. Ron hadn't done anything about Lavender, simply avoiding her whenever he could. And Hermione was busy criticizing all three of them for one reason or another.

Corinna met up with Harry on the afternoon of the twenty-first as all those who were seventeen were going to Hogsmeade to take their tests. She had just gotten done telling a nervous Terry good luck before he joined the others in the Entrance Hall. There weren't many in the class that day: only Harry, Corinna, Ernie, and Malfoy. Since there were so few, Slughorn told them to make something interesting. Corinna could only hope that Harry made something that would help with Slughorn as she went about making a Wound-Cleaning Potion, something that all Healers were expected to excel at. She was relieved that Slughorn told her that she brewed it nearly perfectly. "I would chop the fairy wings finer next time, Corinna. Other than that, excellent, excellent."

He moved on to Harry's and was over the moon with his praises at his Potion to Induce Euphoria. Slughorn thought it might be his mother's innate talent at potions coming through, but Corinna knew it was one hundred percent the Prince's doing. As the bell rang, Slughorn made his hasty exit against Harry calling for him to try the potion. Corinna gave him a sympathetic look as they cleaned up their potions and headed out of the dungeon.

Since Slughorn hadn't bothered to assign any homework, they had the rest of the afternoon to come up with plans to help Harry get the memory from Slughorn. "Ron suggested that I use my Felix Felicis," said Harry after a while.

"Seems like a pretty damn important thing to use it on," said Corinna as she watched Harry. "But you don't seem to think so."

"I was kind of hoping to save it for something."

"Like what?"

"Something special."

Corinna quirked a brow but didn't press as Ron and Hermione came bursting into the common room just then.

"Harry, Corinna!" cried Hermione. "I passed!"

"Well done," said Harry. "And Ron?"

"He—he just failed," whispered Hermione as Ron slumped into the couch in front of them. "It was really unlucky, a tiny thing, the examiner just spotted that he'd left half an eyebrow behind…How did it go with Slughorn?"

"No joy," said Harry. "Bad luck, mate, but you'll pass next time—we can take it together."

"Yeah, I suppose. But half an eyebrow. Like that bloody matters."

"I know," said Hermione, "it does seem really harsh."

They headed down to dinner together, but Corinna broke off when she saw Terry talking with some other Ravenclaw sixth years and Seamus. "Well?"

"I passed," he said proudly. "Warn your aunt and uncle that I will be popping in for dinner from time to time."

"Congrats, Terry," said Corinna. "What about you Seamus?"

He mumbled something about being a foot short (Corinna couldn't tell if he was talking about distance or limbs) before he made his excuses to join Dean at the Gryffindor table. She split off as well to meet back up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They ragged on the apparition examiner all through dinner, which made Ron feel a bit better. They headed back to the common room, and the discussion shifted from the exam to getting Slughorn's memory.

"So, Harry, you going to use the Felix Felicis or what?" asked Ron.

"Yeah, I suppose I better," said Harry. "I don't reckon I'll need all of it, not twelve hours' worth. It can't take all night. I'll just take a mouthful. Two or three hours should do it."

They had to wait awhile as Slughorn had just entered the Great Hall and he liked to take his time during meals. The plan was that Harry was to wait until Slughorn would have time to go back to his office before taking the potion and making his way to his office to talk with him. As the sun started to set and making sure that Harry and Ron's roommates were all in the common room, they snuck up to the boy's dormitory (something Corinna didn't think that girls could do, but an archaic rule allowed it). She didn't think she wanted to go back anytime soon. Teenage boys, it seemed, didn't know how to clean up after themselves. Not that girls were much better, but at least their smelly products helped mask some of it.

Harry dug through his trunk until he found the tiny bottle with the brilliant gold liquid inside. He stood up and faced the three of them as he examined the bottle. "Well, here it goes," he said and took a careful sip. He ignored Hermione's question of how it felt as he seemed to ease into the feeling it was giving him. He was beaming as he hid the rest of the potion in the same hiding place. "Excellent," he finally said as he straightened back up. "Really excellent. I'm going down to Hagrid's."

"What?" Ron and Hermione said in unison.

"Why would you go to Hagrid's?" asked Corinna.

"No, Harry, you've got to go and see Slughorn, remember?" said Hermione.

"No. I'm going to Hagrid's. I've got a good feeling about going to Hagrid's."

"You've got a good feeling about burying a giant spider?" asked Ron.

"A giant what?" asked Corinna, looking between the three of them. "What are you talking about?"

"Yeah," said Harry, ignoring Corinna's question as he grabbed the Invisibility Cloak. "I feel like it's the place to be tonight, you know what I mean?"

"No," all three of them said, staring at Harry as if he was insane.

"This is Felix Felicis, I suppose," said Hermione. "You haven't got another little bottle full of—I don't know…"

"Essence of Insanity?" suggested Ron.

"Draught of Doltishness?" added Corinna.

Harry pulled the cloak over himself and laughed. "Trust me. I know what I am doing. Or, at least, Felix does." He headed for the stairs and the three of them could only guess that he had left. Hermione and Ron walked together down the stairs and Corinna hung back behind them.

"What were you doing up there with her?" shrieked Lavender. She didn't see Harry and Corinna must have been far enough back that she only saw Ron and Hermione. Corinna decided to stay put.

"Well, um, we were just…" Ron scrambled to find an excuse, and it seemed that Hermione wasn't going to offer anything. "I needed to grab a book."

"Then where is it?" Lavender demanded. The common room seemed to suddenly get quieter and Corinna could see Ron's ears growing red. "Why don't you just tell the truth? You were up there with her s…sn…" She couldn't seem to say the words.

"No, wait, listen—"

Lavender wasn't listening. "I should have known something was up the moment she started talking to you again! You have been cheating on me, Ronald Weasley!"

"What, no—"

Lavender let out a shriek that Corinna guessed was a sob. "We are over! There, now you don't have to sneak around with…with her!" Corinna stepped further down to see Parvati ushering Lavender up to the girl's dormitory. Sure enough, everyone in the common room was watching the drama unfold.

Ron seemed at a loss for words and Hermione seemed to fail at quelling a smirk.

"I'm guessing this would be a bad time to ask about the giant spider," said Corinna from behind them.

They sat at one of the available couches and Ron explained what had transpired their second year where they had gone into the forest on Hagrid's suggestion and talked with a giant spider named Aragog that proved that Hagrid hadn't released the monster that was petrifying students that year.

"Mind you, after saying he wasn't the one petrifying the students, he still tried to kill me and Harry to feed his children," Ron explained. "Wouldn't have made it out of there if it wasn't for my family's Ford Anglia."

Corinna had so many questions she didn't even know where to begin. It was times like this that she felt like such an outsider still. There was so much history between that three of them that she felt like a fourth wheel and, in this case, it didn't complete the vehicle.

"He was sick all year, Hagrid sent us a letter this morning telling us that he had died, and we were welcome to go to his burial tonight," added Hermione. "I honestly haven't a clue as to why Felix would want Harry to go down there tonight. But, if it helps him get that memory, I suppose."

"Who are we to question it," Corinna agreed. "So, Ron, how does it feel to be a free man?"

"Brilliant! I'm just glad I didn't have to end it."

"Coward," Hermione muttered, but her smile was back in full force. Corinna gave her a knowing look, but Hermine seemed to ignore it.

As it approached midnight, they were getting impatient and Hermione made Ron go get Harry's enchanted map of Hogwarts. After unlocking it with the unusual incantation, they watched as Harry made his way up to the dormitory. However, he seemed to back track after running into Sir Nicolas and went to Dumbledore's office. "He must have gotten it if he went there!" said Hermione, looking relieved. As odd as the decision for Harry to go and visit Hagrid was, it worked out in the end. "Who knows how long they will talk. We might as well head to bed."

"You two go ahead," said Corinna. Hermione handed over the map and they all bid each other goodnight. Corinna moved to the chairs by the fireplace and watched the coals crackle. She didn't know at what point she had fallen asleep, but the next thing she knew was that she was being woken up by Harry shaking her shoulder. "Corinna, wake up."

"Huh, what?" she mumbled, sitting up and wiping away the dried drool on her chin. She wildly looked around as she tried to remember where she was. "What time is it?"

"Nearly half three," said Harry as he sat down in the other chair. "You didn't have to wait up for me."

"Evidently I didn't," said Corinna around a yawn. "I'm guessing you got the memory and then went to Dumbledore."

"Yeah," said Harry. "I ran into Slughorn on my way to Hagrid's and he joined me so he could get acrumentula venom. Then he and Hagrid got drunk and shared stories. He talked about my mum and I used that as a way to get him to give me the memory. It was of him telling Voldemort—" It was a sign that Corinna was now used to Harry saying the name freely as she didn't react "—about Horcruxes. The Horcruxes are part of his soul split up so he can never die while they are still around. The thing is, he apparently made six of them. We already destroyed two of them. I destroyed the diary my second year without realizing what it was, and Dumbledore destroyed a ring. We know the other one is in his snake, Nagini, and the other three are, we assume, other prized possessions from the founders."

"Damn," said Corinna, slowly drawing out the syllable and she took what Harry said in. "So, you have to destroy the other Horcruxes, and then you can kill him?"

"Basically, yeah."

"Seems easy enough," said Corinna. "I mean that's only, like, five things you need to do."

"Dumbledore thinks he knows where another one is, actually. He's letting me come along with him once he locates it."

"That's great," said Corinna. "Then we'll be one step closer to defeating…Vol—You-Know-Who." She, apparently, still couldn't say it herself.

"I just hope we can do it soon and locate the others," said Harry. "Too many people have gone missing or lost their lives and it is only going to get worse from here."

"I hope so, too," said Corinna as she leaned forward and took Harry's hand. "Come on. Let's go to bed. We have Charms first thing."

"Yeah," said Harry, but he did not make a move to stand up. He stared at the fire a long moment before finally standing up. "Goodnight, Corinna."

"Goodnight, Harry." Corinna turned to head to the girl's dormitory, leaving Harry standing by the fire.

Harry told Ron and Hermione what had happened that previous night during Charms after casting a Muffliato charm on those around them. It didn't stop Flitwick from coming around and being disappointed by Harry and Ron's progress in the freezing charm and assigned them practice. Although her vinegar was slushy in the flask, she was able to fully freeze it by the end of class.

They made their way up to the common room after class to see a group of seventh years gathered around one of the couches. Corinna didn't think anything of it until Hermione squealed, "Katie! You're back! Are you okay?"

It was indeed Katie Bell, looking healthy and not screaming in agony. "I'm really well! They let me out of St. Mungo's on Monday. I had a couple of days at home with Mum and Dad and then came back here this morning. Leanne was just telling me about McLaggen and the last match, Harry."

"Yeah, well, now you're back and Ron's fit, we'll have a decent chance of thrashing Ravenclaw, which means we could still be in the running for the Cup. Listen, Katie…that necklace…can you remember who gave it to you now?"

Katie shook her head. "Everyone's been asking me, but I haven't got a clue. The last thing I remember was walking into the ladies' in the Three Broomsticks."

"You definitely went into the bathroom, then?" asked Hermione.

"Well, I know I pushed open the door," said Katie, "so I supposed whoever Imperiused me was standing just behind it. After that, my memory's blank until about two weeks ago in St. Mungo's. Listen, I'd better go, I wouldn't put it past McGonagall to give me lines even if it is my first day back…"

She scurried after her friends and the four of them took up seats at a table by the window.

"So it must have been a girl or a woman who gave Katie the necklace," said Hermione, "to be in the ladies' bathroom."

"Or someone who looked like a girl or a woman," said Harry. "Don't forget, there was a cauldron full of Polyjuice Potion at Hogwarts. We know some of it got stolen…" They paused for a moment as they took the information in. "I think I'm going to take another swig of Felix and have a go at the Room of Requirement again."

"That would be a complete waste of potion," said Hermione. "Luck can only get you so far, Harry. The situation with Slughorn was different. You always had the ability to persuade him, you just needed to tweak the circumstances a bit. Luck isn't enough to get you through a powerful enchantment, though. Don't go wasting the rest of your potion! You'll need all the luck you can get if Dumbledore takes you along with him."

"Couldn't we make some more?" asked Ron. "It'd be great to have a stock of it. Have a look in the book."

Harry pulled out his copy of Advanced Potion-Making and turned to the page that include Felix Felicis. As Corinna read it over his shoulder and her heart sank. "It's seriously complicated," she noted, and there weren't a lot of notes from the Prince about it, either. "And it takes six months as you've got to let it stew."

"Typical," said Ron.

As April was coming to close, May came along with a vengeance as the long-awaited Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw match was just around the corner. Quidditch always seemed to bring out the worst in everyone, but it seemed much, much worse this year. Corinna couldn't even walk the corridors without receiving jeers and insults from the Ravenclaws, particularly those who were on the Quidditch team. Some even tried to curse her while there weren't any teachers around.

"Why are they cursing me?" Corinna asked as she walked with Hermione back towards Gryffindor Tower just a few days before the match. She had just blocked a jelly-legs jinx from one of the Ravenclaw beaters and then put him in a full-body bind. "I'm not even on the bloody team."

"You're dating the captain," said Hermione as she frowned at the piece of paper in her hands. "Maybe they are hoping to do something to you to throw Harry off his game. You go on ahead. I'm going to go talk to Professor Vector really quick about my essay. Can you let Harry and Ron know I'll meet them in the Great Hall for dinner?" Corinna rolled her eyes but agreed that she would.

She went into the Common Room. It was mostly empty as she made her way to the girl's dormitory to drop her things off when Dean intercepted her. "Hey, Corinna, could I talk to you for a mo'?"

"Yeah," she said as she adjusted the bag on her shoulder. "What's going on?"

"I don't know who else to talk about this," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. Corinna had to crane her neck to look up at him as he was the same height as Ron. "It's about Ginny. I don't want to talk about it with any of her friends because they might tell her, Seamus is my best mate but he's terrible at advice, Ron's her brother, Harry might as well be, and Hermione is…well, I'd rather talk to you about it."

Dean seemed to be taking his time getting to the point. "It's fine," she reassured as she lead him over to the chairs by the hearth. It was getting warm outside during the day, so it was only lit at night.

He released a tense breath as he stared at the cold fireplace. "We haven't been on good terms lately, and it seemed to have gotten worse since I was booted from the team."

"Have you talked with her about it?" asked Corinna. "I mean, I don't know Ginny that well, but she definitely isn't one to sugar coat it and will let you know when she isn't pleased with something."

Dean shook his head. "I try to be nice to her by helping her through the portrait or offering to carry her books."

"Okay, I see the problem," said Corinna. "I get that you are trying to be nice, and on someone like Lavender or Parvati, that might work, but Ginny is a very independent person who grew up with six older brothers. She isn't going to think you are helping by doing those things, she's going to think that you don't think she is capable of doing things herself. She wants a boyfriend, not another brother."

"I get that," said Dean. "Then, what should I do to show that I still care?"

"Dean, I don't think showing that you care is your problem," said Corinna. "I think you two need to talk. Have an honest conversation about what you both want out of this relationship. Again, Ginny is going to speak her mind without any problems."

He slowly nodded as he took it all in. "Talking," he said with a sigh. "Why do girls like to talk about relationship stuff so much?"

"Because we learn at an earlier age that communication is important," said Corinna, shaking her head. "It's not our fault your lot is slow on the uptake."

Dean let out a humorless laugh. "Thanks, Corinna. No wonder it seems like you and Harry have a good relationship."

"Don't jinx it," she said. "But, if you ever need to talk, I'm here."

"Yeah, uh…" Dean's eyes widened as he looked past Corinna. She turned and gaped in horror at the state of Harry. He was covered in what looked like blood, but it was black against his robes and his extremely white skin. "What the hell?"

"Harry?" Corinna jumped up and looked him over, but it seemed that the blood wasn't his. "What happened?"

"I don't have time to explain," he said shakily. "But I need your copy of Advanced Potion-Making."

"But, why? Ha—"

"Please," he said in an almost small voice. "I need it and I need you to hide my copy. Someplace Snape would not think to look for it."

Corinna was still very much confused, but she pulled her copy out of her bag and traded it with Harry's. "I got it," she reassured.

"Thanks," he said and then ran up to the boy's dormitory.

Corinna stared at where he left. She glanced back at Dean, who looked as confused as she felt. She just shrugged at him as she headed for the girl's dormitory, but if Snape suspected anything, he might think to look at his friends. Instead, she turned back around and left the Tower. She went to the seventh floor opposite the tapestry of Barnebas the Barmy. With a steadying sigh, she paced the blank wall, thinking about how she needed a safe place to hide Harry's book.

A door appeared and Corinna went through it into a room that was full of…stuff. That was the only way to describe it. It was as large as a cathedral full of things that were left by generations of Hogwarts students. There was demolished furniture haphazardly stacked in a way to keep a way clear for people to move about, thousands of books that were either hidden or stolen for various reasons, and so many other things that Corinna couldn't even begin to list them.

It was set up with various alleyways to get through the entire room and Corinna chose one at random. She was certain that Harry would want the book back once he was done dealing with Snape and whatever sort of trouble brewing there, so she wanted to put it in a place that wasn't obvious but would be easy for her to find. The problem was that there were so many good places to hide it, as long as she remembered how to get there. After walking from the front where the door was to the back, she knew she just needed to pick a spot.

She took a left at the broken vanishing cabinet that Montague was lost in the previous year and Corinna had to Confund him in order to not have tattle on the Weasley twins as they were the ones who put him in it. She walked past a large pile of what looked like gold and jewels. She spotted a cupboard that had seen better days and wrenched the door open as the hinges were rusted together. "Oh, Merlin," she whispered as she spotted a cage that held something that had long since died. "You owe me for this, Harry Potter!" Avoiding what was once inside, she slid the book behind the cage and closed the door again. Thinking she might have a hard time remembering which cabinet she put the stupid book in, she found a tarnished tiara among the pile of jewels and hung it on the knob. She then carefully walked back towards the exit, making sure to memorize the path to the cupboard before going back into the hallway.

No longer hungry, she made her way back to the Common Room. There were already a few people back from dinner, all talking in low whispers. "Corinna," said Ginny, rushing over from the couch. "Dean was just telling me what happened with Harry. Why did he ask you to hide his Potions text?"

"No idea," she admitted, which was part of the truth. "Why aren't you at dinner?" She looked at her watch and was surprised by how long she was in the Room of Requirement.

"Just got done when Harry came up to us looking all shaken and told us that we were going to have a team meeting, including Dean, up in the Common Room." Ginny looked uncomfortable. "You don't think that they are related, do you?"

"Probably," said Corinna as the rest of the Gryffindor quidditch team and Hermione walked in with Harry taking up the rear. "I'll leave you lot to it, then." She walked away from Ginny and Dean and glanced over at Harry. He was hunched over and walked right passed her. She stood next to Hermione on the edge of the group. Although they were not part of the team, they both wanted to know what was going on.

Harry did not look up from the carpet as he addressed the group. "I won't be able to play in the match this Saturday." This statement immediately caused an uproar and he ran a hand through is unruly hair. "Listen, it's not up to me. I…I cursed Malfoy and caused him to go to the Hospital Wing. Snape has given me detention every Saturday until the end of term, including this one." Again, people tried to talk over him, but he just plowed through what needed to be said. "Ginny, you'll be seeker, and Dean will come back on as chaser. I know you lot will be able to win us the cup. We've had some of the best practices leading up to this, so I know you'll do fine without—"

"Potter!" They all turned sharply to see McGonagall standing in the portrait hole looking as if she was going to explode. "My office! Now!"

The look on Harry's face was very reminiscent of that when he was called as the unexpected fourth champion in the Triwizard Tournament. He woodenly walked past his teammates, who had immediately stopped talking when McGonagall walked in but they were all still very much angry at him.

Once the portrait hole closed, the team started talking amongst themselves again. Ron broke off and went over to Hermione and Corinna. "There's got to be something he's not telling us," said Hermione as they went over to a table by the window. It was steadily growing darker outside. "Corinna attacked Romilda Vane and only got one detention."

"I didn't cause her to need medical assistance," Corinna reminded. "But, well…" She explained to Ron and Hermione what had happened when she was talking with Dean.

"It must have to do something with that book!" Hermione shrieked. More people were coming into the Common Room and everyone seemed to have already heard about Harry and Malfoy. "I don't think you should tell him where you hid it."

"I think I can decide that for myself, thanks," said Corinna coolly.

It was a few minutes later that Harry came back. He didn't look much better as he stiffly took the seat next to Corinna. Under the table, she reached over and placed a comforting hand on his knee. "What really happened?" she asked.

"That all did happen," said Harry, leaning forward so his elbows rested on the table, weariness and embarrassment etched on his face. "I found Malfoy in the boy's bathroom with Moaning Myrtle." Corinna vaguely remembered the ghost that haunted the girl's second floor lavatory. All the girls avoided that bathroom like the plague, only using it under the direst of circumstances. "I tried to stay hidden to hear if he would admit to working for Voldemort, but he saw me and cursed me. We attacked back and forth, but he was about to use Crucio and I decided to use Sectumsempra. It…it was horrible. It looked like a knife slashed at his chest. There…there was blood everywhere!

"Myrtle shouted there was a murder and Snape came running. He fixed up the wounds but took him to the Hospital Wing to get some dittany to fix it further. When he came back, he demanded to see my schoolbag. He must have known about the Prince's book. So, I had Corinna hide mine, and I borrowed hers. He saw your name written in it, and I told him it was a silly joke between us, but I don't think he believed it. He gave me detention every Saturday until the end of term. He must have told McGonagall and the other professors because she just gave me a dressing down over it. She said I was lucky I wasn't expelled."

"You were!" said Hermione, crossing her arms over her chest. "I won't say 'I told you so,'"

"Then don't," said Ron. "Leave it, Hermione."

"I told you there was something wrong with that Prince person," she continued, ignoring Ron's angry remark. "And I was right, wasn't I?"

"No, I don't think you were," said Harry.

"How can you still stick up for that book when that spell—"

"The Prince only copied it out!" Harry turned his head to glare at Corinna and she glared right back. "It's not like he was advising anyone to use it! For all we know, he was making a note of something that had been used against him!"

"I don't believe this," said Hermione. "You're actually defending—"

"I'm not defending what I did! I wish I hadn't done it, and not just because I've got about a dozen detentions. You know I wouldn't've used a spell like that, not even on Malfoy, but you can't blame the Prince, he hadn't written 'try this out, it's really good.' He was just making notes for himself, wasn't he?"

Hermione turned sharply to face Corinna. "Don't tell him where you have hidden it."

Before Corinna could say anything, Harry interjected, "Listen, without the Prince I'd never have won the Felix Felicis. I'd never have known how to save Ron from poisoning. I'd never have—"

"—got a reputation for Potions brilliance you don't deserve?" added Hermione.

"Will you both just shut up," said Corinna, feeling a headache coming on. She wasn't sure the cause, but they were not helping it. Unfortunately, she could see both sides of the argument and wasn't sure what she should do. "For right now, it's safe in the Room of Requirement, but good luck finding it," she added when Harry was about to interrupt. "I have it pretty well hidden and it would probably take years for you to find it among the rubbish. But, also, Hermione, you need to lay off. Malfoy was about to use an Unforgivable Curse, one that my mother favors. I am not going to apologize for thinking that Harry was lucky to have something like that in his arsenal to stop Malfoy.

"Well, of course I'm glad Harry wasn't cursed! But you can't call that Sectumsempra spell good, Corinna."

"I didn't," Corinna muttered. "Don't put words in my mouth, Hermione!"

"I wasn't. You just made it seem like it was a good thing."

"Compared to the fucking Crucio curse, yeah, it is."

It seemed that even Hermione could see how much Corinna loathed that. The conversation seemed to instantly drop, but the tension stuck around for the rest of the night and into the rest of the week. Harry had to deal with taunts from the Slytherins for putting one of their own in the Hospital Wing, and jeers from Gryffindors for diminishing their chances of winning the house cup. Although she despised how it happened, at least people were now going back to ignoring her.

That Saturday, she had considered not going to the Quidditch game, but Terry was dragging her out to the pitch on that clear May day. She had split off with Harry when he went to Snape's office for his first detention, but Terry had intercepted her as she went to Gryffindor Tower.

"You'll regret not going," he said plainly. She noticed that Seamus was no where around and asked him about it. "He's saving us seats since I went to look for you. But you might have to sit between us. Did you know for not even being on the team, he is still very competitive?"

"And you aren't," said Corinna as they joined the crowd in the Great Hall going out onto the grounds.

"Pot-kettle much?" Terry countered. They stepped out of the shadow of the castle and the sun seemed to instantly warm them up. They had removed their jumpers before they even got to the pitch and climbed the stairs to the seats that Seamus was sitting at. Sure enough, Corinna was squeezed between them.

"Your boyfriend really ruined our odds," said Seamus, who was one of those most vocal after it came out that Harry wouldn't be participating in the match. "I hope he's happy."

"He gets to spend the day with Snape," she said dryly. "I'm sure he is having the time of his life."

The Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws met out on the pitch and the captains—Katie standing in for Harry as she had been on the team just as long as he had—shook hands. Soon, they were off. McGonagall, fed up with the subpar commentators that had filtered through, had opted to do it herself. But, it seemed, even she couldn't stay impartial for long as Gryffindor started to pull ahead. Flitwick, as he was the Head of House for Ravenclaw, made it his job to keep her in check. Soon, it became a battle of which professor would have control over the amplifier.

Corinna only vaguely paid attention as it seemed very back and forth between the chasers. Although Katie and Demelza have always been consistently good, it seemed that Dean really stepped up his game. Whether it was for Harry or Ginny, she couldn't be sure. Either way, the three of them were a powerhouse, and the beaters were doing what they could to keep the other chasers at bay, but they still landed quite a few shots. Ron was doing better than he had in the previous year, but he wasn't on his game like he was in the first game against Slytherin. The placebo effect was a hell of a drug.

"No, no!" Terry started panicking as they looked over at the scores. Three hundred to hundred and thirty. If Ginny caught the snitch now, they would win, but it seemed that her and Cho Chang were still trying to find it. "Yes!" One of the Ravenclaw chasers, Mandy Brocklehurst, feinted a throw at Ron to open up the hoops behind him for her to score. "Come on! They just need to get two more scores and then Cho needs to get the snitch!"

"Oh, shite!" shouted Seamus as both Ginny and Cho dove down towards the pitch, both spotting the little golden orb at the same time. "Yes…yes…YES!" As they both rose up from a dive, Ginny held her hand up where the snitch tried to fly out of her grasp. The Gryffindors and their supporters seemed to explode with cheer as they had just enough points to not only beat Ravenclaw but also win the house cup! Even Corinna was on her feet, cheering along with Seamus as Terry remained slumped in his seat, his head buried in his hands.

"Party in Gryffindor common room!" Seamus shouted, completely ignoring his boyfriend. "Corinna, come help me get butterbeer from the kitchens!"

"Yeah!" said Corinna as she looked down at Terry. She sat back down and patted his back. "Oh, don't worry. There's always next year…unless Gryffindor wins it for the fourth year in a row!" She gave another loud, obnoxious cheer just to drive her point home.

He punched Corinna in the arm, but he looked like he wanted to do more. "You don't even like Quidditch," he muttered.

She stood back up and looked back over at the pitch. Ginny and Dean landed and were locked in a steamy embrace that caused a few to wolf whistle. Ron had flown over to another Gryffindor section and seemed to be talking with Hermione, who was eagerly leaning over the edge to talk to him. If something didn't happen with them, thought Corinna, she would eat her wand arm.

But she still felt a pang of jealousy. She wished she had, instead, cheered Harry on as he sped into a beautiful dive to catch the snitch. As he held the snitch high above him, she wanted to be on her feet as his first instinct was to go and seek her out. Instead, she will have to wait for her chance to do so next year.


	7. In Which Corinna Has the Worst Luck

As spring officially left for summer to move in, Corinna and Harry found themselves spending more and more time outside. They liked sitting underneath the beech tree with the duvet spread out underneath them. Normally, Harry would be braced against the trunk of the tree while Corinna relaxed against his chest unless, of course, they would rather snog than talk. And they talked about anything and everything.

"I promise you," she said one day once he was released from Snape's clutches. It seemed like he was keeping Harry later and later each detention, just to add insult to injury. Just to spite the Defense professor, they found themselves rather enjoying the chill in the evening air. "As soon as I get my Apparition license, I am just going to pop in on you."

"Please don't," said Harry honestly. He had his arms wrapped around Corinna's chest as he looked up at the sky through the leaves. "The Dursleys are not a pleasant lot. I would rather you not meet them."

"They can't be worse than the lot I'm unfortunately related to," said Corinna as she tilted her head to look up at Harry. It was a very odd angle, she had to admit. "But, fine, I'll wait until you are sprung to the Weasley's to come and visit you."

"I appreciate it," said Harry. Corinna righted her neck and Harry rested his chest on her head. "Have you gone to see Winky lately?"

"I tried," said Corinna, remember the disaster that was her second attempt at talking with her old house elf. As promised, Dobby was able to keep her from the drink so Corinna could try to talk to her sober, but that seemed to make things worse. Winky was shaking from head to foot, her eyes almost spinning from the repetitive motion. She just kept talking about how much of a failure she was and would not let Corinna get a word in edgewise on how that wasn't the case. "Dobby said he was going to go to Dumbledore and see if there was any help that can be done for Winky."

"That's good, at least," said Harry and Corinna closed her eyes as the sun was dipping lower to the horizon. The remained that way until just before curfew where they reluctantly trudged back to the Common Room.

In the aftermath of the quidditch finale, it seemed that everyone had almost forgotten that Harry had used dark magic on Malfoy as everyone was talking about the spectacular plays. It took a few days, but Terry went back to talking to Corinna and Seamus. In fact, they were on such good terms, that Terry invited Seamus when his family went to France to help his sister move back to the UK as she accepted a job in Wales to be closer to her family. He was uncertain if his mum would be okay with it, but he held out hope.

The problem was Ron and Hermione. Corinna had caught them a couple of times being close, but as soon as they saw Harry, they would shoot away from each other and act like nothing was happening. Corinna thought to ask about it, but Ron would just pretend to read whatever he was holding even if it was a throw pillow, and Hermione would ask her if she had told Harry where she had hidden the Prince's copy of Advanced Potion-Making. Corinna just let them have their secretive romance or whatever it was supposed to be.

Personally, Corinna found it odd that Harry hadn't asked her about the book, even if his potion-making was suffering because of it. She did her best to help him out, but she was nothing compared to the Prince. Plus, Slughorn seemed to be catching on that they potions were practically identical, so she had to even quit doing that much to help him. Although it meant that he was now focusing more on Corinna and Hermione's efforts, she could tell just how much Harry wanted that book back. But, until he said he wanted it back, she was not about to volunteer to go and grab it from the Room of Requirement.

When she wasn't studying or hanging out with her friends, she found herself in an abandoned classroom working on her potions. She had borrowed a book from the library about various healing potions from the general to the case specific. She had perfected the Wound-Cleaning Potion and a handful of others such as Murtlap Essence and the basic Wiggenweld. She kept some in a pouch in her bag as she knew how accident prone the people she chose to associate with were.

June approached, as did their exams, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was last year. Instead, they all watched the current fifth years with pity and relief that they had a year between the two most important exams of a young witch or wizard's life. Dean seemed despondent in the common room as Ginny was busy studying in the library and Seamus was off with Terry. She thought about inviting him over to where her, Harry, and Ron were sitting by the window, but then Hermione came blazing with stiff purpose.

"I want to talk to you, Harry."

"What about?" said Harry, focusing on One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi without taking a word in.

"The so-called Half-Blood Prince."

"Oh, not again. Will you please drop it? I haven't even asked Corinna to grab it."

"I'm not dropping it until you've heard me out. Now, I've been trying to find out a bit about who might make a hobby of inventing dark spells—"

"He didn't make a hobby of it—"

"He, he—who says it's a he?"

"We've been through this. Prince, Hermione, Prince!"

"Right!" Looking frazzled, she slammed a piece of paper down on the table in front of them. "Look at that! Look at that picture!"

Harry picked up the picture and both Ron and Corinna leaned over to look over his shoulder at the moving photograph of a sullen girl around fifteen. She looked at the caption below the yellowing photograph that must have been from an old newspaper article. Eileen Prince, Captain of the Hogwarts Gobstones Team.

"Her name was Eileen Prince. Prince, Harry."

Harry and Ron looked at each other as Corinna studied the picture, thinking that Hermione might be onto something when the two of them busted out laughing. "No way!" said Harry. "You think she was the Half-Blood…? Oh, come on."

"Well, why not?" Harry, there aren't any real princes in the wizarding world! It's either a nickname, a made-up title somebody's given themselves, or it could be their actual name, couldn't it? No, listen! If, say, her father was a wizard whose surname was 'Prince' and her mother was a Muggle, then that would make her a 'half-blood Prince!'"

"Yeah, very ingenious, Hermione…"

"But it would! Maybe she was proud of being half a Prince!"

"Listen, Hermione. I can tell it's not a girl. I can just tell."

"The truth is that you don't think a girl would have been clever enough."

"How can I have hung around with you for five years and not think girls are clever?" Harry seemed miffed by the accusation, but she was leaning towards Hermione on this one. This was the only solid lead they had on the identity of this Half-Blood Prince. "It's the way he writes. I just know the Prince is a bloke. I can tell. This girl hasn't got anything to do with it. Where did you get this, anyway?"

"The library. There's a whole collection of old Prophets up there. Well, I'm going to find out more about Eileen Prince if I can and the first place I'll look is records of old Potions awards!" She took the photograph back and turned sharply on her heel to marched out of the portrait hole.

"Do you think it could be this Prince person?" asked Harry, looking between Ron and Corinna.

"Well, it is a solid lead," said Corinna.

"You're only saying that because Hermione thinks it's a bird," countered Ron.

"And you lot just think it's a bloke because you're blokes. You don't even have any solid evidence to support your claims."

"You both are just annoyed that Harry outperformed you in Potions."

"I got over that," said Corinna, "and Hermione just wants to be proven right. And she's doubling down because you both are fighting her on it."

"Well, she needs to chill out."

"Or maybe you should just shove your tongue down her throat," Corinna said under her breath.

"What?" said Harry, turned to look at Corinna, but he was distracted by one of the Gryffindor beaters came up with a scroll for Harry. "It's from Dumbledore!" He unfurled the parchment and read it quickly. "He wants me to go to his office as quick as I can!"

Ron was too busy seething to reply, so Corinna stepped in. "You think he's found…?"

"Better go and see, hadn't I?" She shifted aside so Harry could jump to his feet and hurried out of the Common Room.

"CouldyounotsayanythingtoHarryfortheloveofMerlinsbollocks," Ron said very quickly, making it sound like a single word.

"Why haven't you told him?" asked Corinna as she grabbed the parchment that was supposed to be her Herbology essay, but all it had was her name written on it.

Ron's ears turned pink as he stared down at his open Herbology text. "Because we're…we're nothing. We're not doing anything. I'm not talking about this."

Corinna narrowed her eyes at Ron and nudged him. "I won't say anything to Harry, but I'm also curious and nosy."

"No shite," Ron muttered. "I'm still not talking about it." She nudged him again. And again. And again. "I grew up with five brothers and a sister. You're going to have to do better than that."

Corinna retracted her arm and glared at Ron. Ron stared down at his open book and Corinna tried to focus on her essay, but her mind kept wandering. She found herself staring out at the sky as it steadily grew darker outside. Worry started to eat away at her as Harry seemed to be gone awhile. Although he was excited at the prospect of going with Dumbledore to find the Horcruxes, Corinna couldn't help but worry. Knowing You-Know-Who, it wouldn't be as easy as stopping by an curios shop and purchasing whatever item he put his soul into.

They looked up when Hermione came back with heavy volumes in her arms. "I will find some connection Eileen Prince has with potions," she said. "I will find it!"

Corinna and Ron looked at each other and the silently agreed to just drop it. Neither of them were in the mood to argue with her. She sat down across from them and opened up the books in front of her as she quickly skimmed through the pages. She turned her attention back to her Herbology essay as she started to scratch out an introduction. They all worked in silence until Harry came back looking frazzled.

"What did Dumbledore want?" said Hermione, but Harry continued past them. "Harry, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," said Harry as he rushed up to the boy's dormitory, nearly knocking over one of the Creevey brothers in the process. The three looked between each other, trying to figure out what he was trying to do. He came racing down just a minute later and stood between the two couches. "I haven't got much time. Dumbledore thinks I'm getting my Invisibility Cloak. Listen…" He quickly summed up what he overheard from Trelawney when he went to see Dumbledore, and then what had transpired in his office. He ignored any questions or gasps they had about it. "…you see what this means? Dumbledore won't be here tonight, so Malfoy's going to have another clear shot at whatever he's up to. No, listen to me! I know it was Malfoy celebrating in the Room of Requirement. Here—" He shoved the Marauder's Map into Hermione's hand. "You've got to watch him, and you've got to watch Snape, too. Use anyone else who you can rustle up from the D.A. Hermione, those contact Galleons will still work, right? Dumbledore says he's put extra protection in the school, but if Snape's involved, he'll know what Dumbledore's protection is, and how to avoid it—but he won't be expecting you lot to be on the watch, will he?" When Hermione went to interrupt, he continued. "I haven't got time to argue. Take this as well."

He shoved a rolled-up pair of socks into Corinna's hands. "Thanks. I've always wanted a pair of used socks, but my birthday isn't for another couple of weeks."

"You need what's wrapped in them. It's the Felix Felicis. Share it between yourselves."

"No," said Corinna quickly, trying to shove it back at Harry. "We don't want it. You take it. What you're doing is way more important."

"I'll be fine," said Harry, looking Corinna in the eye. "I'll be with Dumbledore. I want to know you lot are okay. Oh, don't look at me like that." He leaned down close to Corinna, bracing against the back of the couch. "I need to make sure you're okay."

As he was about to give her a kiss goodbye, she put a finger against his lips. "No. You expect us to have the luck, then you aren't going to get a kiss until you are back here safe and sound." Harry seemed annoyed by that, but he straightened up and bid everyone a goodbye. She immediately regretted denying the kiss as she watched Harry's retreating form head for the portrait hole. The last thing she saw was his jet-black hair before the Fat Lady swung her portrait shut.

"When do you think we should take the potion?" asked Corinna as she did the math in her head. Harry took about three hours' worth to get the memory from Slughorn. If they perfectly split it up three ways, that would give them about three hours of luck each. "We don't know how long they are going to be gone."

"Let's call the meeting first," said Hermione as she dug into her pocket and pulled out the fake galleon. It seemed that they all kept them on their persons just in case. "Who knows who has kept theirs on them."

They decided to meet outside the library as it was somewhat centrally located and on neutral territory so everyone who was in the D.A. despite house affiliation could join in. "Maybe we should take it now," said Corinna. "We don't have enough for everyone and it should last us past midnight. As long as we each stick to someone who doesn't have the luck potion, we should be fine." She unfurled the socks and passed the golden potion off to Hermione. She eyed the vial as if to estimate how much she should take and took a quick swallow. Ron did the same and passed it back to Corinna. She thought there seemed to be a bit more than her third, but she just chalked it up to margin of error and swallowed the rest.

"I'm understanding why Harry was so barmy," said Ron, and Corinna couldn't agree more. She compared it to feeling tipsy where you weren't inebriated, but you felt light and weren't thinking such complicated thoughts. Instead of going on autopilot because of the drink, you were going on autopilot because of the potion.

"We need to focus," said Hermione. They stood up from the couches and Corinna bent down to grab a pouch from her bag and shoved it in her pocket. They abandoned their bags and books as they were certain that Felix would keep them safe.

They ran into Neville at the portrait hole. "There's a meeting?" he asked, looking excited.

"Not quite," said Hermione as she took Neville's arm and lead him out of the portrait hole. "We'll explain when everyone else gets there."

They ran down to the library where Ginny and Luna were waiting outside. They both looked exhausted from revising for their OWLs, but they both looked ready and determined. "What's going on?"

They waited for others to show up, but none came as the precious minutes ticked by. Corinna could only guess that Neville and Luna had kept their galleons on them all year as they were both the most eager for the DA meetings to continue, and Ginny just happened to be with Luna studying in the library for their OWLs. Once it seemed that they had their little group set up, they found an empty classroom. Hermione quickly explained what Harry suspects is going to happen tonight. No one questioned it as their jaws were set in determination, or maybe Felix was helping speed things along. They had also checked the map to see that Malfoy was nowhere in the castle, which indicated that he had to be in the Room of Requirement, and Snape was tucked into his office, pacing back and forth.

"We need to split up into two groups," said Hermione once she was done explaining. "Three of us should go up to the Room of Requirement and keep an eye on Malfoy and the others should go and keep an eye on Snape."

"I'll go with Corinna and Neville up to the Room of Requirement," said Ron, sounding more confident than Corinna ever thought he had heard him. "Hermione, Luna, and Ginny will go down to Snape's office."

"We'll need a way to communicate," said Corinna as she considered their options. "Hermione, do you know how to use the Patronus Charm to send a message?"

Hermione looked uncertain but nodded. "I think I can manage something. Can you?"

"It's how I've sent a few messages to Dora—er, Tonks," she said as a couple of them looked confused as to who she was talking about. "Mine's a dolphin and yours is an otter, right?" At Hermione's nod, she added. "We'll only send them if it's necessary."

Corinna couldn't help but think it was odd to not have Harry around as their leader, but she knew that they had all easily rose to the challenge. With that in mind, they each split up into their respective groups with Hermione leading Ginny and Luna down to the dungeons, and Ron leading Corinna and Neville up to the Room of Requirement.

"Should we try to get in?" asked Neville as they quickly went up the staircase.

"There's no way," said Corinna. "Harry had been trying for months now to no avail. Unless we know what Malfoy needed the Room for, we can't go in."

"But Trelawney got in," said Ron as they all but ran down the corridor to the Room of Requirement. Corinna considered it very lucky that they hadn't run into any teachers as it was now passed curfew for older students.

"Who knows what she was trying to do in there where she was able to run into Malfoy."

They all fell silent after that as they all stood guard. Ron and Neville had their wands trained on the wall where the Room of Requirement would appear while Corinna paced back and forth to keep an eye out for anyone who might want to get in. At random intervals, Ron would check the Marauder's Map in case anyone unsightly joined them, and to see if Harry and Dumbledore had arrived back yet. They only thing interesting was how there were teachers and a few Order members—Dora, Lupin, and Bill Weasley—were patrolling the corridors. Corinna thanked Merlin (or, more accurately, Felix) that none of them were going down the corridor where they were keeping tabs. She also considered it a sign that Harry hadn't been able to convince Dumbledore that Malfoy was some sort of threat. Luck potion or not, they would be down here if they had suspected anything.

Snape also remained in his office, still pacing. It seemed that the others had taken up a similar patrolling style with two of them, Luna and Ginny, keeping an eye on Snape's office while Hermione paced the corridor. She imagined with them being right outside Snape's office, they were also being as stoically silent as Ron, Corinna, and Neville.

She kept glancing at her watch as the minutes ticked by and worry burned at her throat. Nothing was happening with the Room and nothing was happening outside it. She could feel Neville and Ron fidgeting behind her as they were growing weary. Maybe nothing was going to happen tonight and that they had wasted the potion and risked detention and house points for nothing.

It had been well over an hour of their patrol when the door to the Room of Requirement crashed open. Malfoy stood at the threshold, his face whiter than his hair, clutching a shriveled hand tucked under his arm. In his hands was a pouch where he quickly grabbed a handful of whatever was inside. Before any of them had a chance to stun him, he threw down the powder-like substance and immediately everything turned to pitch.

Corinna couldn't even see her wand trained in front of her. "Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder," Corinna heard Ron shout in the din as other voices could be heard, but they were indistinct and seemed to be everywhere, adding to the confusion.

"Lumos," Corinna whispered. She knew the spell had to work. It was one of the first spells she had learned and had used it often to read late into the night whenever she was at Hogwarts. She even pulled her wand tip so it was very close to her face and she still couldn't see it. In the distance, she could hear Neville trying to summon his own wand-lighting charm. She switched tactics as she extended her arm again. "Incendio." She could feel the warmth of the fire-making charm, but still no light permeated the darkness surrounding them.

"Nothing is going to work on this until it clears," said Ron. "We'll have to feel our way out."

She did not like the sound of that as she tried to remember how she was standing before the darkness, but in the confusion, she couldn't remember as she had been pacing. Instead, she put the wand on the palm of her hand and whispered, "Point me." She felt the wand shift and she turned towards where north would be. "Use the four-point spell," she told the others, "and head north."

They did as they were told, and Corinna took her first step in the darkness. She couldn't tell if it was because the pitch covered such a large area or because of her small, cautious steps, but it seemed to take an eternity to get out of the darkness. She winced when she came upon the dim lighting of the corridor. She blinked to adjust her vision and sighed heavily in relief when she saw Dora, Lupin, and Bill running towards them.

"What happened?" Lupin demanded as Ron and Neville stumbled out of the darkness.

"Malfoy," said Ron. "He threw the powder down and had a Hand of Glory to guide him through the darkness. He had others with him. Death Eaters."

"We'll have to locate them," said Bill. "They couldn't have gotten far."

Corinna silently thanked Felix again that they hadn't told them to go back to Gryffindor Tower as the six of them ran back down the corridor. They heard talking in the direction of the Astronomy Tower and they all quickened the pace. A couple of burly Death Eaters at the edge of the group noticed them first and shot stunners in their direction. They deflected away and drew in the attention of the other Death Eaters.

All hell broke loose.

Everyone was shouting spells and breaking apart as some began to duel one on one. Corinna focused on the one in front of her who was busy shooting off spells all willy-nilly. He particularly liked the killing curse. They seemed to fly all around Corinna without ever making impact. She jumped out of the way of one as the green light shot right passed her and hit a Death Eater coming down from the Astronomy Tower square in the chest. She watched as the Death Eater crumbled, his eyes staring up at the ceiling, unseeing.

Her brain did not process what had happened as she straightened up. "Stupefy!" she shouted, hitting the Death Eater who had just killed one of his brethren. He flew back into the wall and knocked one of the portraits down. Those in the portrait cried in indignation, but she had moved on to help the others. She took stock of those around them and her heart sank. She saw Neville limping and Bill was covered in bite marks across his face and chest. Corinna could not think of a spell that could do such a thing to him, but she looked up to see Lupin dueling Fenrir Greyback.

She looked around wildly as she tried to locate Malfoy, but he didn't seem to be anywhere. She ran for the Astronomy Tower just as she saw a Death Eater casting some sort of protection charm. He gave her a wicked smile as she ran into the shield and was thrown back. She crashed into the wall and crumpled to the ground. Bright lights shook her vision along with all the colorful spells being thrown around them. She could vaguely see Ron helping her stand up and she blinked quickly to clear her vision.

There was only one Death Eater now. The burly one who was shooting off spells every which way. It was all they could do to dodge the spells while Lupin and Tonks investigated the barrier. She saw Snape running down the corridor, tight-lipped and laser focused. She saw a green light flash next to her and she dodged out of the way again. When she righted herself, he was gone. She had looked up to see Lupin running for the stairs but was thrown back just like Corinna had been.

She rushed over and helped him back up, only for him to pull her down to avoid a spell from the Death Eater still attacking them. She landed on her backside and the sharp pain from getting thrown into the wall was back. "Son of a—Dora, look out! Flipendo!"

Dora landed flat on her back just as the ceiling collapsed from the Death Eater. He was caught under the rubble, but it seemed he was the only one. Ron had managed to pull his brother away from the wreckage and Neville was clutching his side, only getting caught in some of the dust. She saw some others had joined them as Professor McGonagall helped Dora up.

"Wotcher!" Dora said as she carefully stood up. "Thanks for that!"

Lupin and Corinna helped each other up as the dust slowly settled. She saw a couple of figures running from the scene, but then the Death Eaters were back in full force. A lumpy Death Eater locked eyes on Corinna and she raised her wand at him. "Crucio!" he shouted, and Corinna easily stepped to the side. "Crucio! You can't dance forever, little girl—"

"Impedimenta!"

She watched as the Death Eater she was trying to attack was flown back and hit the wall, hard. She turned to see who had cast the jinx and her heart about skipped a beat. "Harry! Where did you come from?"

But he didn't answer her as he ran full tilt into the fray. "Harry!" she shouted. She blocked a jinx from one of the Death Eaters. "Petrificus Totalus!" Their limbs locked together and they felt to the ground with a loud thump. She ran after Harry as the others seemed to have it under control. She found him tangled up with Neville, who was still on the ground and clutching his stomach.

"Snape and Malfoy…ran past…" Neville managed to choke out. Corinna could only assume they were the ones that she saw running after the ceiling collapsed.

"I know. I'm on it!" He briefly looked over at Corinna and his expression was unreadable. She only nodded as he scrambled up and continued running down the hall. She knelt down next to Neville and looked him over. His stomach was deeply bruised and one of the healing spells from her aunt and uncle's old healer books did the trick. She helped him up and he went to fight with the others. She went over to Bill and there didn't seem to be anything she could do. She wished she had thought to make a mixture of silver powder and dittany, but she didn't think a bloody werewolf would do something like this when it wasn't a full moon. All she could do was use the Wound-Cleaning Potion on the abrasions and give him a Blood-Replenishing Potion until he could get to Madam Pomfrey.

All she could do was focus on helping people. Some of the students had gotten out of bed and into the fray, and the various professors were doing what they could to get them back into their dorms. The sounds of fighting were slowly fading. She bent down next to help an escaped Hufflepuff girl just a couple years younger than Corinna when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. "Miss Crouch," said McGonagall, looking much older than she would have expected from the Transfigurations professor. "Madam Pomfrey is on it. Do you know where Potter went?"

"He was chasing after Snape and Malfoy," said Corinna, her voice hoarse.

"Go find him and bring him to the Hospital Wing," she said and then moved on to coordinate cleanup efforts. She pocketed the used vials and made her way down. There were Aurors at the Room of Requirement, so she did not think he would be there. She went down to the Entrance Hall, ignoring the various questions and demands from the other students who hadn't been ushered back to their dormitories.

The grounds were oddly quiet except for Hagrid's dog's loud barking. She looked in the direction of the sound and found Hagrid and Harry standing over a crumpled figure. Her voice caught in her throat as she made her way over to them, and froze when she recognized the crumpled figure as Professor Dumbledore. It didn't seem real, to see the Headmaster who greeted them warmly their first year and continued to be a solid edition in the staff table ever since. He was a force all his own and the only one You-Know-Who had ever feared.

"C'mere Harry," came Hagrid's voice. It broke Corinna's reverie and dragged her back into reality.

"No."

"Yeh can' stay here, Harry…Come on, now…"

Corinna rushed forward and knelt down next to him. "Harry, come on." She reached out and placed a hand on his to draw his attention away. When it seemed she had his attention, she stood with him and lead him back towards the Entrance Hall. She had placed an arm around his waist to help support him. He stared blankly ahead, his mind far, far away while his body was on the grounds with her. She wasn't even sure if he heard and saw all the people surrounding them as the battle had poured out of the castle and into the grounds. As they crossed into the threshold into the Entrance Hall, she heard the Gryffindor rubies from the hourglass crunch underneath her trainers.

"We're going to the Hospital Wing," she explained as they headed up the marble staircase,

"I'm not hurt," said Harry. He sounded like he was a million miles away.

"McGonagall's orders," said Corinna. She had to admit even her voice sounded hollow as the events of that night slowly crept into reality.

"Corinna, who else is dead?"

"Don't worry, none of us."

"But the Dark Mark—Malfoy said he stepped over a body—"

"He might have stepped over Bill, but he's alive," said Corinna. At least, she hoped he was. "He was attacked by Fenrir Greyback, so who knows what will happen to him since he wasn't attacked by a full werewolf. There was also a dead Death Eater, killed by another Death Eater's killing curse gone astray. But no one on our side." She kept seeing life leave his eyes over and over again in her mind's eye. She had never seen someone die, let alone watched them die from their life being taken away in such a brutal fashion. "In fact, if it wasn't for your potion, I'm afraid we would have all been killed."


	8. In Which the World will Never be the Same

They made it to the hospital wing. Corinna pushed the doors open to reveal Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Neville, Dora, and Lupin all gathered around a hospital bed. They all looked up at the sound of the doors opening and Hermione ran towards them. Corinna had just stepped to the side when Hermione tightly hugged Harry. Lupin stepped forward, looking anxious. "You all right, Harry?"

"I'm fine…how's Bill?" When no one answered, they looked over at the figure on the bed. He seemed to be doing better than how Corinna had left him, but only slightly. His breathing was still ragged and his wounds still looked grotesque. "Can't you fix them with a charm or something?"

"No charm will work on these," said Madam Pomfrey. "I've tried everything I know, but there is no cure of werewolf bites. He is lucky that Miss Crouch was at least able to clean his wounds and give him a Blood-Replenishing Potion. Without those, he might not have made it this far."

Corinna looked away from the others, feeling her face burn. "I just did what anyone else would have done," she mumbled.

"But he wasn't bitten at the full moon," said Ron, who looked almost as white as Bill as he looked down at his eldest brother. "Greyback hadn't transformed, so surely Bill won't be a—a real—"

"No, I don't think that Bill will be a true werewolf," said Lupin, "but that does not mean that there won't be some contamination. Those are cursed wounds. They are unlikely ever to heal fully, and—and Bill might have some wolfish characteristics from now on."

"Dumbledore might know something that'd work, though," said Ron and his words were like a stab to the gut. No one else knew of Dumbledore's fate. "Where is he? Bill fought those maniacs on Dumbledore's orders, Dumbledore owes him, he can't leave him in this state—"

"Dumbledore's dead," said Corinna. The words coming out of her mouth sounded fake, even to her.

"No!" Lupin stared at Harry as if hoping that he would contradict her statement. When he did not, Lupin collapsed into the nearest chair with his hands over his face.

Dora was immediately at his side with a hand on his shoulder. "How did he die?" Her voice wasn't more than a whisper. "How did it happen?"

"Snape killed him," said Harry, and Corinna looked at Harry sharply. "I was there, I saw it. We arrived back on the Astronomy Tower because that's where the Mark was. Dumbledore was ill, he was weak, but I think he realized it was a trap when we heard footsteps running up the stairs. He immobilized me, I couldn't do anything, I was under the Invisibility Cloak—and then Malfoy came through the door and disarmed him—more Death Eaters arrived—and then Snape—and the Snape did it. The Avada Kedavra…" When he couldn't go on, Corinna stepped back up to him and put her arm around his waist.

Madame Pomfrey burst into tears but was instantly silenced by Ginny. "Shh! Listen!" Madame Pomfrey put her fingers to her mouth, and they all strained to listen. Somewhere outside, a phoenix was singing, a lament of terrible beauty. Corinna was shaking as she listened to the song that reverberated inside her chest. How long they all stood listening to the song, she had no idea. The night was already entirely much too long.

The dormitory doors were thrown open, breaking everyone from their trance. McGonagall came rushing up the aisle. "Molly and Arthur are on their way," she said as everyone seemed to act that they had woken from a deep slumber. "Harry, what happened? According to Hagrid, you were with Professor Dumbledore when he—when it happened. He says Professor Snape was involved in some—"

"Snape killed Dumbledore."

McGonagall swayed dangerous when Harry bluntly gave the news. Madam Pomfrey summoned a chair that fell underneath McGonagall just in time as she collapsed into it. "Snape," she repeated. "We all wondered…but he trusted…always…Snape…I can't believe it…"

"Snape was a highly accomplished Occlumens," said Lupin harshly. "We always knew that."

"But Dumbledore swore he was on our side," said Dora. "I always thought Dumbledore must know something about Snape that we didn't…"

"He always hinted that he had an ironclad reason for trusting Snape," muttered McGonagall. "I mean…with Snape's history…of course people were bound to wonder…but Dumbledore told me explicitly that Snape's repentance was absolutely genuine—wouldn't hear a word against him!"

"I'd love to know how Snape convinced him," said Dora, who was now rubbing Lupin's back. It was a testament to what was going on that he didn't seem to have a problem with it.

"I know," said Harry, and everyone turned to look at him. "Snape passed Voldemort the information that made Voldemort hunt down my mum and dad. Then Snape told Dumbledore he hadn't realized what he was doing, he was really sorry he'd done it, sorry that they were dead."

"And Dumbledore believed that?" said Lupin. "Dumbledore believed Snape was sorry James was dead? Snape hated James…"

"And he didn't think my mother was worth a damn either," said Harry, "Because she was Muggle-born…'Mudblood,' he called her…"

Corinna had very little respect for the man to begin with. Even if he hadn't killed Dumbledore, hearing him call anyone that made her automatically hate him.

"This is all my fault," said McGonagall. "My fault. I sent Filius to fetch Snape tonight, I actually sent for him to come and help us! If I hadn't alerted Snape to what was going on, he might never have joined forces with the Death Eaters. I don't think he knew they were there before Filius told him, I don't think he knew they were coming."

"It isn't your fault, Minerva," said Lupin. "We all wanted more help, we were glad to think Snape was on his way…"

"So, when he arrived at the fight, he joined the Death Eaters' side, asked Harry.

"I don't know exactly how it happened," said Professor McGonagall distractedly. "It's all so confusing. Dumbledore told us that he would be leaving the school or a few hours and that we were to patrol the corridors just in case. Remus, Bill, and Nymphadora were to join us. And so we patrolled. All seemed quiet. Every secret passageway out of the school was covered. We knew nobody could fly in. There were powerful enchantments on every entrance into the castle. I still don't know how the Death Eaters can possible have entered…"

"I do," said Harry. "Malfoy fixed the Vanishing Cabinet that Montague was put into last year, and it was linked with one that was in Borgin and Burkes. So, they got in through the Room or Requirement."

"Oh, Merlin," said Corinna, looking miserable. "I saw the Vanishing Cabinet when I went to hide, er…something. I had walked past the thing used to get Death Eaters into the castle and not even know."

She looked over at Ron and Neville and they each took turns explaining what had happened while they were guarding the Room of Requirement, and Lupin and Dora chimed in when they had come into their explanation. "So, if Ron, Corinna, and Neville were watching the Room or Requirement…" He turned to Hermione. "Were you—?"

"Outside Snape's office, yes," said Hermione, tears in her eyes, "with Luna and Ginny. We hung around for ages outside it and nothing happened. We didn't know what was going on upstairs, Ron had taken the map. It was nearly midnight when Professor Flitwick came sprinting down into the dungeons. He was shouting about Death Eaters in the castle, I don't think he really registered that we were there at all, he just burst his way into Snape's office and we heard him saying that Snape had to go back with him and help and then we heard a loud thump and Snape came hurtling out of his room and he saw and—and—"

"What?"

"I was so stupid, Harry! He said Professor Flitwick had collapsed and that we should go and take care of him while he—while he went to help fight the Death Eaters. We went into his office to see if we could help Professor Flitwick and found him unconscious on the floor. Oh, it's so obvious now, Snape must have Stupefied Flitwick, but we didn't realize, Harry, we didn't realize, we just let Snape go!"

"It's not your fault," said Lupin. "Hermione, had you not obeyed Snape and got out of the way, he probably would have killed you, Luna, and Ginny."

They then continued to when Snape had gone upstairs and gotten through the barrier. They each took turns filling in details. "We just let them pass," said Dora. "We thought they were being chased by the Death Eaters—and next thing, the other Death Eaters and Greyback were back and we were fighting again—I thought I heard Snape shout something, but I don't know what—"

"He shouted, 'It's over,'" said Harry. "He'd done what he'd meant to do."

Silence followed his words as the Phoenix finished up their lament. Corinna didn't realize how much it seemed to fill the void until it was gone.

The doors burst open, causing everyone to jump from the sudden noise. "Molly—Arthur—" said McGonagall as she quickly got to her feet. "I am so sorry—"

"Bill," said Mrs. Weasley as she bustled passed everyone and they parted away from Bill's bed to allow her clearance. Dora and Lupin moved closer to Harry and Corinna, and she noticed them holding hands. "Oh, Bill!" As they explained to the newcomers what the cursed wounds could mean, Mrs. Weasley had taken the ointment from Madame Pomfrey and dabbed Bill's wounds herself. Mr. Weasley collapsed into the chair by Bill's bed when they confirmed that Dumbledore was dead. "Of course, it doesn't matter how he looks…" Mrs. Weasley seemed to only be focused on her eldest son, not paying any attention to the rest of the world around her. "It's not really important…but he was a very handsome little boy…always very handsome…and he was going to be married!"

"And what do you mean by zat?" Corinna looked up sharply, not realizing that Fleur Delacour, the Beauxbatons champion during the Triwizard Tournament, had also came in with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. "What do you me, 'he was going to be married?'"

Mrs. Weasley looked up, looking startled. "Well, only that—"

"You theenk Bill will not wish to marry me anymore? You theenk, because of these bites, he will not love me?"

"No, that's not what I—"

"Because 'e will," said Fleur. "It would take more zan a werewolf to stop Bill loving me!"

"Well, yes, I'm sure, but I thought perhaps—given how—how he—"

"You thought I would not weesh to marry him? Or per'aps, you hoped? What do I care how he looks? I am good-looking enough for both of us, I theenk! All these scars show is zat my husband is brave! And I shall do zat!" She took the ointment from Mrs. Weasley and Fleur started cleaning up the wounds instead.

Everyone else was very still, as if waiting for an explosion. Corinna stood stock still as she assessed what was going on.

"Our Great-Auntie Muriel has a very beautiful tiara—goblin-made—which I am sure I could persuade her to lend you for the wedding. She is very fond of Bill, you know, and it would look lovely with your hair."

"Thank you. I am sure zat will be lovely."

And feeling like this night couldn't take any more twists and turns, both women were clutching each other as they cried over Bill. Harry was looking around wildly as if everyone had gone mad, Ron looked stunned, and Ginny and Hermione were exchanging startled looks.

"You see!" Corinna turned to see Dora fully facing Lupin and a smile slowly crept on her face as she watched her cousin. "She still wants to marry him, even though he's been bitten! She doesn't care!"

"It's different," said Lupin. "Bill will not be a full werewolf. The cases are completely—"

"But I don't care either. I don't care! I've told you a million times…"

"And I've told you a million times," said Lupin, unable to meet Dora's eyes, "that I'm too old for you, too poor…too dangerous…"

"Oh, shut up," said Corinna, not caring that people were looking at her again. "You're being ridiculous."

"I am not being ridiculous," said Lupin, taken aback that Corinna had spoken up. "Tonks deserves somebody young and whole."

"But she wants you," said Corinna.

"After all, Remus," Mr. Weasley added, "young and whole men do not necessarily remain so." He motioned towards his own son suffering from a very similar fate as Lupin, even if it wasn't exactly the same.

"This is not the moment to discuss it," said Lupin, changing tactics when it seemed that everyone was on Dora's side. "Dumbledore is dead…"

"Dumbledore would have been happier than anybody to think that there was a little more love in the world," said McGonagall.

The doors to the Hospital Wing opened again and Hagrid walked in, his face blotchy underneath his strangely beard. "I've…I've done it, Professor. M-moved him. Professor Sprout's got the kids back in bed. Professor Flitwick's lyin' down, but he says he'll be all righ' in a jiffy, an' Professor Slughorn says the Ministry's bin informed."

"Thank you, Hagrid," said McGonagall and turned to face the group. "I shall have to see the Ministry when they get here. Hagrid, please tell the Heads of Houses—Slughorn can represent Slytherin—that I want to see them in my office forthwith. I would like you to join us too." Hagrid nodded stiffly and left. "Before I meet them I would like a quick word with you, Harry. If you'll come with me…"

Harry seemed to reluctantly pull away from Corinna's embrace. He looked between her, Ron, and Hermione. "See you in a bit," he mumbled and then turned to follow McGonagall out of the Hospital Wing.

It was odd how empty Corinna felt once Harry was gone as she turned back to the group. Madam Pomfrey was insisting the students should head to bed, and Mrs. Weasley wholeheartedly agreed. Lupin and Dora volunteered to take the students upstairs to their respective dormitories as they were all Gryffindor except for Luna, but her dormitory wasn't that far.

"They'll probably talk about closing the school," said Lupin when Hermione asked what McGonagall had called a meeting about. "Something like this…isn't good for Hogwarts' reputation. I wouldn't be surprised if parents started pulling students out starting tomorrow."

The rest of the walk up to the Towers were silent. Dora broke off to escort Luna to the Ravenclaw Tower and she waved them all goodbye, but she gave Neville a lingering smile. Lupin ushered the rest of them towards the Fat Lady's portrait hole, who swung open without even waiting for a password. They all bid goodbye to Lupin as they walked through the portrait hole.

As expected, the common room was crowded with people. They were all talking loudly until the five of them had walked in and now all eyes were on them. Ginny ignored the stares and went over to where Seamus and Dean were sitting and Neville went to find an isolated spot in the corner. Ron and Hermione whispered lowly to themselves and split off to their own dormitories. Corinna considered staying up to wait for Harry, but exhaustion won out and she followed after Hermione.

Hermione sat on her bed, staring down at the floor. She made no move to remove her dust-covered robes. Corinna stripped off as she went, not really caring at this point.

"What do you think is going to happen now?" asked Hermione. "Do you really think they will close the school?"

She shoved on a nightshirt and flopped unceremoniously onto her bed and stared up at her canopy. "I don't know," she admitted. "They might have to if no one wants to send their kids here." Corinna wasn't even fully convinced if her aunt and uncle would let her come back. Then, she remembered, she was going to be seventeen soon. Technically, they wouldn't have a say.

"I just hope Harry's and Dumbledore's mission was a success," said Hermione as she went to change into pajamas. "Something needs to go right tonight."

"Hopefully more than one thing if Lupin pulls his head out of his arse."

"You knew about them, didn't you? Harry, Ron, and I thought it was Sirius."

Corinna had to sit up and look at Hermione over that one. "Seriously?" She shook her head and laid back down. "Dora has been trying for almost a year to convince Lupin that they should be together."

"Between that and Mrs. Weasley finally accepted Fleur as a future daughter-in-law, some good things are going to be borne out of this tragedy."

"Good," was all Corinna said as she mustered up the rest of her strength to crawl under the covers. Despite how exhausted she was, sleep would not come to take her away.

As she hadn't even fallen asleep, she was wide awake when McGonagall barged into their dormitory early the next morning to collect Parvati as her parents were there to pick her and her twin up. There were some protesting and some crying from Lavender, but they left all the same.

Hermione also looked as if she hadn't slept much as they dressed for the day. They went down to the Common Room to see a bulletin announcing that all lessons were suspended and examinations were postponed. At the very least, they figured that would happen, and Hermione and Corinna agreed that they would probably send the students home within a couple of days. However, Harry, during his meeting with McGonagall, vouched for the students that they would want to be there for the funeral, and so the Hogwarts Express would leave an hour after the funeral.

The funeral just happened to be on Corinna's birthday. She didn't mention this to anyone else, not that she was interested in celebrating her birthday in the first place. The only one who mentioned it was Terry and she told him pointblank that if he did anything for it, she would castrate him.

Terry dropped it, mostly because they were walking in on Seamus having a row with his mother about staying until the funeral. At least it ended amicably as Mrs. Finnigan promised to find a place to stay in Hogsmeade until then. However, she had difficulty finding a bed, he told Terry and Terry told Corinna, as witches and wizards were pouring into the village to pay their last respects to Dumbledore.

This was, of course, also in between Terry complaining about how he wasn't invited yet again. "We sent a message through the DA coins," she reminded as they walked down to the Great Hall, "so if you didn't get the message, it's your own fault." He did admit that he had his coin in the bottom of his bag, forgotten after all these months.

Even Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted were coming in for the funeral, but they wouldn't there until the day of due to their schedules. It meant that Corinna wouldn't even take the train home to London as they would just floo from Dora's Hogsmeade flat. If they were plagued down by exams, she might have been a little miffed, but it seemed that Harry and Corinna were spending as much time together as possible, mostly outside. The bright sunlight and warm breeze seemed to mock them. She found herself imagining what her life would look like if Dumbledore hadn't died and they were relaxing like this after revisions and exams, and actually doing something for Corinna's birthday. Instead, there was an edge to their time together, as if there was something that Harry wanted to say but couldn't bring himself to say it.

He told Corinna and Hermione about the fake Horcrux the morning after Dumbledore's death. They were probably irate that Dumbledore was weakened for no good reason which lead to his downfall. But this also meant that there were still three Horcruxes to find, not to mention finding a way to kill Nagini, Voldemort's precious snake. It was an unenviable task, to be sure.

While some students were being filed out, others were coming in in droves, and not just to Hogsmeade. The Beauxbatons carriage came by, carrying Madame Maxime, landed on the grounds the afternoon before the funeral. There were also representatives from the Ministry, including the Minister of Magic himself, were also staying in the castle. Harry avoided them like the plague, even sending Ron, Hermione, or Corinna to filch some food for him when he was spotted in at the staff table sitting next to McGonagall. No one, it seemed, dared to sit in Dumbledore's place in the middle of the table.

They had taken the pilfered food up to the Common Room the evening before the funeral, but no one seemed to be in the mood to eat much, only eating enough to show the others that they were eating. They sat in the chairs by the window with it open to let in the cool evening air.

"Anyone else we know died?" Ron and Hermione as she read the evening edition of the Prophet. Normally, it would only be on special occasions that they were release two issues in one day, but it seemed after Dumbledore's death, there was a lot to discuss in the Wizarding World.

"No," she said, wincing at the harshness of Ron's tone. "They're still looking for Snape, but no sign…" She carefully folded up the newspaper and set it off to the side.

"Of course, there isn't," said Harry as he braced his head on his fist as he stared out the window. "They won't find Snape until they find Voldemort, and seeing as they've never managed to do that in all this time…"

Corinna wished she could find some sort of words of comfort, but none came to her. Ask her for a sarcastic comment and she was there, but she couldn't find any sort of thing to say to Harry.

"Harry, I found something out this morning, in the library," said Hermione, her voice sounding rehearsed.

"RAB?" Those were the initials on the letter in the fake Horcrux. That was the only clue as to where the real one might be, but none of them believed for a second that whoever this RAB person was knew how to actually destroy the Horcrux. It was still out there somewhere.

"No," she said softly. "I've been trying, Harry, but I haven't found anything…there are a couple of reasonably well-known wizards with those initials, but they don't seem to fit at all. Judging by that note, the person who stole the Horcrux knew Voldemort, and I can't find a shred of evidence that they had anything to do with him. It's actually about Snape."

"What about him?"

"Well, it's just that I was sort of right about the Half-Blood Prince business."

"Do you have to rub it in, Hermione? How do you think I feel about it now?"

"No—no—Harry, I didn't mean that! It's just that I was right about Eileen Prince once owning the book. You see…she was Snape's mother!"

"I thought she wasn't much of a look," said Ron.

"I was going through the rest of the old Prophets," Hermione continued, ignoring Ron, "and there was a tiny announcement about Eileen Prince marrying a man called Tobias Snape, and then later an announcement saying that she'd given birth to a—"

"—murderer!"

"Well, yes. So I was sort of right. Snape must have been proud of being 'half a Prince,' you see? Tobias Snape was a muggle from what it said in the Prophet."

"Yeah, that fits. He'd play up the pure-blood side so he could get in with Lucius Malfoy and the rest of them. He's just like Voldemort. Pure-blood mother, muggle father. Ashamed of his parentage, trying to make himself feared using the Dark Arts, gave himself an impressive new name—Lord Voldemort—the Half-Blood Prince—how could Dumbledore have missed—?"

Harry fell silent, completely lost in thought. He was sitting up straighter now as he looked out the window.

"I still don't get why he didn't turn you in for using that book," said Ron. "He must've known where you were getting it all from."

"He knew. He knew when I used Sectumsempra. He didn't really need Legilimency. He might have even known before then, with Slughorn talking about how brilliant I was at Potions. Shouldn't have left his old book in the bottom of that cupboard, should he?"

"But why didn't he turn you in?" asked Corinna.

"I don't think he wanted to associate himself with that book," said Hermione. "I don't think Dumbledore would have liked it very much if he'd known. And even if Snape pretended it hadn't been his, Slughorn would have recognized his writing at once. Anyway, the book was left in Snape's old classroom, and I'll bet Dumbledore knew his mother was called 'Prince.'"

"I should've shown the book to Dumbledore," said Harry. "All that time he was showing me how Voldemort was evil even when he was at school, and I had proof Snape was, too."

"'Evil' is a strong word," said Hermione.

"You were the one who kept telling me the book was dangerous!"

"What I'm trying to say, Harry, is that you're putting too much blame on yourself. I thought the Prince seemed to have a nasty sense of humor, but I would never have guessed he was a potential killer."

"None of us could've guessed Snape would, you know," said Ron.

They all fell silent as twilight settled around them, absorbed in their own thoughts. Corinna had mixed feeling about tomorrow where she knew she should be excited to finally be in her majority, but she knew it was going to be a somber affair as the Wizarding World said their final goodbyes to the only man You-Know-Who ever feared and, with it, their hopes of getting through this war.

She tried not to think about next year where it was still so uncertain if Hogwarts will even be open. Even if they did open their doors to students again after the tragedy, she had a feeling that Harry wouldn't be among them. He was only really safe here because of Dumbledore. Plus, he needed to find those last Horcruxes, one of which was a mystery. She knew that is what Harry needed to talk about, but they avoided the subject.

Eventually, they all broke away to head to their dormitories. Both Hermione and Corinna were silent as they changed into their sleep clothes. As she had every night since Dumbledore died, she stared up at the ceiling until sleep finally overcame her in the early hours of the morning.

Everyone was silent as they woke and dressed. Although there was only one missing from their ranks with Parvati's bed untouched, it created a chasm between the other girls. It was tantamount to a white flag being raised by Lavender as she was now courteous to Hermione as the three of them descended the stairs to go to breakfast.

Hermione and Corinna found Harry and Ron and sat down next to them. Breakfast was a subdued affair as no one seemed interested in eating. Students were all dressed in various colored dress robes, but all were in muted colors. Corinna was glad she had asked for new dress robes for Christmas as she couldn't imagine going down to Dumbledore's funeral wearing gold. She reached under the table to take Harry's hand as it seemed to be shaking.

After what felt like an eternity, McGonagall rose as the hall, which was quieter than usual, immediately silenced. "It's nearly time. Please follow your Heads of Houses out into the grounds. Gryffindors, after me."

The only sounds in the hall were those of scraping benches as it seemed that the students were on their best behavior for once. All the heads had to do was lead the way out into the Great Hall and down onto the grounds. They all filed out to the Black Lake. Hundreds of chairs had been set up in rows with a middle aisle that lead to a marble table that glistened brilliantly in the sun.

There were people already filling out the seats. Many she recognized, and most she did not. She had immediately spotted Dora due to her hair being pink again. She was sitting down next to Remus and Corinna tried to hide a smile when she noted that they were holding hands. On her other side were Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted. She spotted the Weasleys not far from them as they seemed to be an island of red hair with a beacon among them being Fleur.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Corinna filed into seats right by the lake. They were seated behind Terry, Seamus, Dean, and Ginny. In the seats by the aisle, Neville and Luna were sitting next to each other, and they glanced over at the four of them. They had answered the call for help as they were the ones who wanted the D.A. to come back the most. When Terry, of course, mentioned how he, yet again, was not invited into the action, she reminded him that he should have had his D.A. coin on him. Even now, she was certain it was in his sapphire dress robes.

Next was a procession of three irksome individuals. First was Cornelius Fudge, who had lost the re-election due to his mishandling of You-Know-Who coming back to power. Not that Corinna thought that Rufus Scrimgeour was much better. Then there was Rita Skeeter, who although wrote the piece for the Quibbler that told the truth about what happened during the third task, was still a horrid woman who told untruths about people. And then there was Umbridge. Her blood boiled when she saw the toad-like woman and, indeed, the time when she spit in her face was a memory she used to conjure a Patronus, she just could not believe the vile woman had the audacity to show up to the man's funeral whom she had usurp for political gain.

Up at the front of the sat Professor McGonagall and Scrimgeour. It was obvious that McGonagall was keeping a cool exterior when all she wanted to do was cry for her good friend, but Scrimgeour sat there looking grave. She doubted anyone with strong ties to the Ministry was actually there for Dumbledore, but only there to save face. She knew the type all too well. If her grandfather was alive to attend the funeral, that's the only reason why he would go.

Corinna paused her recollection when she heard beautiful, otherworldly music fill the space around the funeral. It sounded oddly familiar as she looked over at the lake and saw, just below the surface, with the green water tinting their skin, were a chorus of merpeople singing. Although she had ended her studies on the Mermish language the summer before her fourth year as she did not continue with the tutors her grandfather hired, she recognized a few phrases in the mournful melody. As Harry was still looking around for the source, she pointed it out to him.

She looked passed Harry to see Hagrid coming down the middle aisle and she nudged Harry again to draw his attention away from the merpeople. He was carrying a bundle in his arms, a spot wet from his tears on the dark purple velvet adorned with golden stars. Corinna felt tears welling up in her eyes as it dawned on her that Hagrid was carrying Dumbledore's body.

From where they sat, Corinna couldn't see the front as she stupidly sat down behind Dean. She could see the Hagrid's shaggy hair as he bent down over the marble table, and she could only assume that he had placed Dumbledore's body upon it. His arms were free as he came back up the aisle and went to the back with another giant dressed in what was supposed to be formal wear. She glanced over at Harry and he whispered, "I'll explain later."

They turned back to the front and Corinna had guessed that a man was now speaking, presiding over the service. She did not hear much of what was said as she stared at the back of Dean's head, blurry from the tears that were threatening to fall again. She felt Harry shift and she glanced over at him with a small smile on his face. Figuring he was thinking of a happy memory he had with Dumbledore, she turned to face the front. She didn't know how long she sat there. Harry next to her seemed restless, and Hermione on her other side was oddly still, letting tears fall down her cheeks and into her lap. Corinna wiped at her own tears and they were left heavy and dry. The murmured speech ended and the crowd was enveloped in silence.

Soon, there was a scream, but no one else seemed to move as there appeared to be a pillar of fire rising from where Dumbledore's body laid. Once the ceremony would end, she would see that the table would be replaced with a white marble tomb where Dumbledore can look over his beloved school. He would never truly be gone from this school, even if he was gone from this life.

She glanced over at Harry and her heart sank. His green eyes dazzled in the sunlight, but hardened from the last few weeks, months, and years. She knew that look. He had that same look when he went into the maze, when they went into the Department of Mysteries, and just recently when he was going off with Dumbledore to get the Horcrux. His set jaw and curled fists said more than she cared to admit.

"Corinna, listen," he said very quietly and she glared at him as if she knew what he was going to say next. "I can't be involved with you anymore. We've got to stop seeing each other. We can't be together."

"No." Harry was taken aback by the simple word, simply put. She didn't even put any emotion into it even if she felt like her heart was going to explode. "You're doing this for some stupid, noble reason and I'm not here for it."

"But, Corinna—"

"I knew what I was getting into when we started dating." The crowd around them were slowly getting to their feet, as if waking up from a dream.

"Even if Hogwarts is going to open next year, I won't be coming back. I have a job to do."

"Good for you," said Corinna. "I don't care."

"I care. How do you think I'd feel if this was your funeral and it was my fault?"

"And how do you think I'd feel if this was your funeral and it was my fault because I wasn't around to help save you?"

"We're on your side, Harry," said Hermione. Although tears were still shining in her eyes, she looked determined. "We've been with you this far."

"I can't ask any of this from you," said Harry. "I'm going back to the Dursley's as that was what Dumbledore asked, and then I have to go find the Horcruxes."

"You told us once before that there was time to turn back if we wanted to," said Ron. As that seemed like something Ron wouldn't remember off the top of his head, Corinna wondered if he and Hermione have been discussing this when Harry wasn't around. "We've had time, and we're still here, aren't we? But, mate, you're going to have to come round my mum and dad's house before we do anything else for Bill and Fleur's wedding."

Harry seemed to take it all in as he looked at the three of them. "Yeah, we shouldn't miss that."

"Wotcher," said Dora, bringing them back into reality. "Cor, Dad went to grab your things. We need to get going as Mum has to get to work soon."

"I'll meet you by the gates," she said. "I need to say goodbye first."

Dora nodded as she straightened to and went back over to Remus. "We'll figure it out," said Hermione once she was gone.

Corinna nodded as she looked at Harry. His resolve had faded as he now looked conflicted. "But I have to get going," she said. She leaned over and gave Harry the tightest hug she could muster, and he crushed her right back. "I'm not letting you go that easy, Harry."


End file.
